Ross Benoliel
Baritone
New England Finalist, 2008

Praised for his “warm and well-focused baritone voice”, Ross Benoliel was an invited international finalist in Placido Domingo’s Operalia competition held in Valencia, Spain in October, 2006.  Mr. Benoliel recently returned from Madison Opera after debuting there as Schaunard in La Bohème. He made his Carnegie Hall debut this October. Mr. Benoliel was just named winner of the Rita Z. Mehos award in the 2008 Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition. 

Mr. Benoliel has performed with such companies as: New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, Glimmerglass Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Ash Lawn Opera Festival, Chautauqua Opera, Portland Opera (Oregon), American Opera Projects, Center for Contemporary Opera, Salt Marsh Opera, Pine Mountain Music Festival and the Lake George Opera Festival. He has been a featured recitalist with the Monmouth Civic Orchestra, Ocean City Pops and Opera of the Hamptons.

He has performed the roles of Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte, Figaro in Il Barbiere Di Siviglia, Valentin in Faust, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze Di Figaro, Mercutio in Romeo Et Juliette and premiered the role of the Reverend John Wilson in Margaret Garwood's The Scarlet Letter.

Among other roles performed are: Marcello in La Bohème, Belcore in L’elisir D’amore, Harlekin in Ariadne Auf Naxos, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, Aeneas in Dido And Aeneas, the High Priest in Semele, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte and Colonel Calverly in Patience. 

He was announced as a semi-finalist in the 2006 Metropolitan Opera New England Regional finals. Mr. Benoliel has been a finalist of both the 2006 and 2005 Jensen Foundation Competition, a finalist of the 2004 New England Regionals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a 2004 and 2003 recipient of an encouragement award from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, a 2000 national semifinalist of the MacAllister Awards for Opera Singers and a 1998 finalist of the Friedrich Schorr Memorial Prize in Voice. 

Upcoming engagements for Mr. Benoliel include Sciarrone in Tosca for New York City Opera and Schaunard in La Bohème for his Tulsa Opera debut.

Mr. Benoliel is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and holds a music degree in vocal performance from the University of Michigan. 

For more information, visit Mr. Benoliel's website.

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