About Ben
Ben Wallace is a “versatile and vocally powerful” (Opera Canada) baritone, conductor, pianist, and teacher. In his second season as a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio, Ben will play Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos and cover Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Belcore in The Elixir of Love, Marchese d’Obigny in La traviata, and Thomas Heiser in the world première of Ian Cusson’s Empire of Wild. Ben is also excited to conduct the world première of Canadian composer Justin Lapierre’s latest choral work in March, which marks their fifth collaboration since 2022. On the concert stage, he will join the Guelph Symphony Orchestra as a soloist for Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Spiritus Ensemble for Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, and the Jubilee Chorus for Messiah.
Last season at the COC, Ben played Figaro in an Ensemble Studio performance of The Barber of Seville, Paris in Roméo et Juliette, and Brühlmann in Werther. He was a resident artist at the Glimmerglass Festival last summer, where he covered the roles of Curly in Oklahoma! and Tommy McIntyre in Fellow Travelers.
Other recent operatic highlights include Top in The Tender Land (Toronto City Opera), Figaro in The Barber of Seville (Highlands Opera Studio), Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, Prospero in Tempest Songbook, Bartley in Riders to the Sea (University of Toronto Opera), Le Dancaïre/Moralès in Carmen (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), Billy Bigelow in Carousel (Cambridge Symphony Orchestra), John Brooke in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Barone Douphol/Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony). Ben was also a resident artist at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2024.
On the concert stage, Ben has performed as the baritone soloist for Messiah, the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé, Mozart, and Brahms, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Jake Runestad’s The Hope of Loving, and various Bach cantatas with organisations across Ontario including the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Spiritus Ensemble, Guelph Chamber Choir, Chor Amica, Grand River Chorus, St. Thomas Choral Connection, Arcady Ensemble, and Symphony in the Barn.
Ben is committed to creating spaces of welcome that both honour the past and amplify the voices of today. He formed his own chamber choir and orchestra in 2022 and has since premièred four choral works by Justin Lapierre. Their most recent and ambitious project to date was the première of a new 70-minute oratorio, The Gatherers, which explores the intrinsic connection of humans and communities to the environment. Equally at home in the world of musical theatre, Ben has served as the music director for productions of Company, The Last Five Years, In View: The Lyrics of Gord Downie (Downtown Theatre Project), Cabaret, Matilda, Legally Blonde (Royal City Musical Productions), and 13 the Musical (Guelph Little Theatre).
Ben was a winner of the 2025 Toronto Mozart Vocal Competition, a recipient of the Laurier Alumni Gold Medal, and a winner of the Laurier Concerto Competition. He has been recognised at the Global Undergraduate Awards for his academic writing and is an Ontario Arts Council music presentation project grant recipient. Ben earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto and his Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University.