Benson Wilson

Last updated

Benson Wilson
BornNew Zealand
Notable awards
Website
www.bensonwilson.com

Benson Wilson is a New Zealand-born baritone opera singer of Samoan heritage currently based in London, United Kingdom.

Contents

Life

Born in New Zealand to a Samoan family, Wilson was raised in the Seventh Day Adventist faith in which song was a part of daily life. He was able to harmonise while singing from age 5, but his vocal talent was not recognised until he was 15, when he began singing in the New Zealand Secondary Students Choir and entering competitions. [1] Although tall and muscular, he was banned from playing rugby by his mother for fear of injury. [1] Wilson spent his teenage years in Havelock North, where he won Hawke's Bay Young Musician of the Year in 2009. [2] He attended Havelock North High School. [3]

Wilson graduated in 2014 from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Music Honours (Vocal Performance), and was awarded the Vice-Chancellor's Cultural Grant. [4] He won the Symphony prize in the 2015 IFAC Australian Singing Competition, which gave him a year's free tuition at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London starting in 2016. [1] [4]

Wilson and his partner Isabella Moore met in the Secondary Students Choir, but did not become romantically involved until 2019, and got engaged on Valentine's Day 2021. [5]

Career

Wilson was a member of the New Zealand Youth Choir from 2011, and toured the US and Canada with the choir in 2013. He was a member of New Zealand Opera's Chapman Tripp Chorus in 2014. [4]

In September 2019 he joined the Young Artists Programme of the National Opera Studio in the UK. [6] IN 2020–2021 he was a Harewood Artist in training at English National Opera. [1]

With Bloomsbury Opera he performed Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. [7] His first roles with English National Opera were Schaunard in La bohème and John Shears in the Benjamin Britten operetta Paul Bunyan. He has also performed Marullo in Rigoletto for Glyndebourne on Tour in 2019 and John Sorel in Menotti's The Consul at Welsh National Opera in 2020, as well as alongside both the London Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. [7]

in mid-2020, having had multiple contracts cancelled due to the COVID pandemic, Benson and Moore returned to New Zealand to tour a recital programme. [2] They performed at Auckland Chamber Concert Hall, Hawkes Bay Opera House, and Auckland Opera Studio. [8] In November 2020 they were both part of a group of New Zealand singers in London who recorded the concert Whānau: London Voices of Aotearoa, far from home at the Royal Albert Hall. [6] In an April 25 (Anzac Day) 2021 recital at Leeds Town Hall entitled "Maumaraha" (Remembrance), Wilson included two arrangements of the traditional Māori songs Oriori! O Nohomaiterangi and Ake ake kia kahe e! [9]

Honours and awards

Wlson was a finalist in the 2014 Lexus Song Quest, winning second place to his future partner Isabella Moore. [10] He won first place in the 2015 Napier Aria Competition. [4] He then went on to win the next Lexus Song Quest in 2016, being awarded "Most Promising Opera Singer" and a study scholarship. [10]

In 2018 Wilson won the Joan Sutherland and Richard Bonynge Foundation Bel Canto Award, also being awarded the People's Choice award. [6]

In 2019 he won the 64th Kathleen Ferrier award, the first Samoan to do so, [5] and was awarded the Most Outstanding Overseas Performer of the Royal Overseas League Competition and the Worshipful Company of Musicians Award. [1] [8]

Related Research Articles

The music of New Zealand has been influenced by a number of traditions, including Māori music, the music introduced by European settlers during the nineteenth century, and a variety of styles imported during the twentieth century, including blues, jazz, country, rock and roll, reggae, and hip hop, with many of these genres given a unique New Zealand interpretation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kiri Te Kanawa</span> New Zealand opera singer

Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa,, is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". Her extensive discography includes three albums which featured in the top forty in charts in Australia in the mid-1980s.

Havelock North High School is a state co-education secondary school located in Havelock North, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malvina Major</span> New Zealand opera soprano

Dame Malvina Lorraine Major is a New Zealand opera soprano.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lexus Song Quest</span> Award

The Lexus Song Quest is a biennial opera singing competition, held in New Zealand since 1956. The competition is managed and presented by Tāwhiri, which also runs the New Zealand Festival of the Arts. Winners include the sopranos Dame Malvina Major and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, both of whom were trained by Dame Sister Mary Leo. Other winners include Phillip Rhodes, Jonathan Lemalu and Sol3 Mio's Amitai Pati.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Lemalu</span> New Zealand singer (1976— )

Jonathan Fa'afetai Lemalu is a New Zealand bass baritone opera singer. Born to Samoan parents who had emigrated to New Zealand, he was educated in Dunedin. His first singing teacher was Honor McKellar, who began teaching him while he attended Otago Boys' High School. He studied both Law and Music at the University of Otago, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws in 1999.

David Blair Hamilton is a New Zealand composer and teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Leese</span> New Zealand opera singer

Anna Leese is a New Zealand born soprano opera singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tom Krause</span> Finnish opera singer

Tom Gunnar Krause was a Finnish operatic bass-baritone, particularly associated with Mozart roles.

The Iosefa Enari Memorial Award is an annual award presented by Creative New Zealand at the Arts Pasifika Awards in honour of the late Samoan opera singer Iosefa Enari.

Christopher Stephen Varcoe is an English classical bass-baritone singer, appearing internationally in opera and concert, known for Baroque and contemporary music and a notable singer of Lieder.

David Griffiths is a composer, baritone and convener of the Conservatorium of Music at the University of Waikato. Griffiths has gained national and international recognition as a composer, opera singer and recital soloist. His choral compositions are particularly popular in the United States of America and have, in recent years, been recorded by several choirs while many works have been included on various record labels including Naxos Records, Kiwi Pacific and Atoll.

Aivale Cole is a soprano singer from New Zealand.

Isabella Moore is a New Zealand soprano singer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Rhodes (baritone)</span> New Zealand opera singer

Phillip Rhodes is a New Zealand-born baritone opera singer.

The Dame Malvina Major Foundation, named after New Zealand soprano Malvina Major was established in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison Nonoa</span> New Zealand opera singer

Madison Nonoa is a New Zealand-born soprano opera singer of Samoan, Niuean, and Pākehā heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natasha Wilson</span> New Zealand opera singer

Natasha Te Rupe Wilson is a New Zealand soprano opera singer of Māori and Pākehā heritage.

Jacqueline Coats is a theatre director based in New Zealand who has worked in both opera and children's theatre, she has worked for various organisations including the New Zealand Festival, New Zealand Opera and Victorian Opera (Melbourne).

Samson Setu is a New Zealand-born bass-baritone opera singer of Samoan descent.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Amey, Richard (24 May 2021). "Brighton Festival 2021 – Lucy Colquhoun (piano) and Benson Wilson (baritone)". Brighton & Hove Independent. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Opera treat for Hawke's Bay as international singers book date at Toitoi". Hawkes Bay Today. 29 July 2020. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  3. ↑ Smith, Mandy (10 May 2007). "Singing out for success". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Benson Wilson". Auckland Opera Studio. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
  5. 1 2 Moore, Isabella; Wilson, Benson (18 February 2021). "Love in the age of Covid - Isabella Moore and Benson Wilson". The Coconet. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  6. 1 2 3 "Benson Wilson | Opera Baritone". English National Opera. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
  7. 1 2 "Benson Wilson - New Zealand born baritone opera singer Benson Wilson relieved to be back home and preparing to perform in August". Pacific Media Network. 8 July 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Benton Wilson, Baritone". Maxine Robertson Management. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  9. ↑ Mogridge, Geoffrey (4 May 2021). "Review: Dreams, Homeland And Childhood, Leeds Lieder Weekend of Song, streaming from Leeds Town Hall until May 9". Ilkley Gazette. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  10. 1 2 "About | Lexus Song Quest". Lexus Song Quest. Retrieved 14 July 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.