Benson Wilson performs in Messiah.

Winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Awards and the Lexus Song Quest, Benson Wilson was a Harewood Artist at English National Opera, for whom he has sung roles including Moralès Carmen, Guglielmo Così fan tutte and Schaunard La bohème.

Roles elsewhere have included Friedrich Bhaer in the UK première of Mark Adamo’s Little Women for Opera Holland Park, Frank / Fritz Die tote Stadt for Longborough Festival Opera, Schaunard La bohème for Welsh National Opera and Marullo Rigoletto for Glyndebourne On Tour.

A committed recitalist, he has toured in New Zealand, including programmes at Auckland Chamber Concert Hall and Hawkes Bay Opera House, as well as appearing with pianists including Lucy Colquhoun, Ella O’Neill, James Baillieu, Iain Burnside and Joseph Middleton at venues including London’s Wigmore Hall and at the Brighton, Kings Lynn, Leeds Lieder, Ludlow and Oxford Lieder Festivals. He has appeared in concert with City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Orchestra of Opera North, also singing Finzi’s Et in terra pax for his debut with BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Omaro.

Engagements during 2023 / 2024 include Horemheb Akhnaten, Marcello in Robin Norton-Hale’s new film of La bohème for Finite Films, Count Ceprano Rigoletto for Opera Holland Park, Mahler Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra and Belshazzar’s Feast at both Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and with Orchestra Wellington.

A 2019 Salzburg Festival Young Artist, where he sang Mirza Der Gesang der Zauberinsel, and a Samling Artist, Benson Wilson graduated from the University of Auckland and completed his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio.

This is his debut with New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.