Ben Heppner is recognized worldwide as the finest dramatic tenor before the public today.  He excels in the most challenging roles, from Wagner’s Tristan and Lohengrin to Verdi’s Otello and Berlioz’s Aeneas.  He is acclaimed in music capitals around the world for his beautiful voice, intelligent musicianship, and sparkling dramatic sense.  His performances on the opera stage, in concert with the world’s leading orchestras, in the most prestigious recital venues, and in recordings have set new standards in his demanding repertoire.

This season Mr. Heppner will be heard in performances of Das Lied von der Erde with Riccardo Chailly and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks.  He reprises the role of Captain Ahab in Moby Dick for Calgary Opera and San Diego Opera and will be heard at the Vienna Konzerthaus in performances of Dream of Gerontius by Elgar.  In the previous season, he opened with a solo recital at the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto for the Canadian Opera Company. He was heard in the title role of Lohengrin with Los Angeles Opera and the Bavarian State Opera.  He sang the title role in Peter Grimes for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and performed the title role in Samson et Dalila in Toulouse.  Further recital engagements include performances at the Krannert Center in Urbana, Illinois, and on tour in the Maritime Provinces of Eastern Canada.  He finished the season with a return to the Bavarian State Opera in the summer to sing the title role of Tristan und Isolde during the Munich Opera Festival.

In the 2009 – 2010 season, Mr. Heppner returned to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden to sing the title role in a new production of Tristan und Isolde.  Mr. Heppner was heard in concert with the Calgary Philharmonic and revisited the Wagnerian repertoire as Lohengrin at Deutsche Oper Berlin. He returned to the United States to create the role of Captain Ahab in the world premiere of Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick for Dallas Opera.  He finished his season in Europe, appearing in concert performances of Act II of Tristan und Isolde with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the BBC Proms in London and the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden.

Mr. Heppner began the 2008–2009 season with a recital tour of Northern Canada, culminating in a concert at The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts with the CBC Radio Orchestra celebrating the 100th Anniversary of The University of British Columbia.  Mr. Heppner returned to the Metropolitan Opera for performances of Ghermann in Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades. He also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s 125th Anniversary Gala.  He performed recitals throughout Europe at prestigious venues, including the Teatro Real in Madrid, the Palais Garnier in Paris, the Philharmonie in Berlin, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the Barbican Centre in London.  He closed the season with his first performances of Siegfried in Götterdämmerung at the Aix-en-Provence Festival.

In August 1998, Mr. Heppner sang his first performances of Tristan und Isolde in a new production for Seattle Opera.  The international press was ablaze with accolades for “a Tristan for the new millennium.”  He subsequently sang this heroic role at the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Berlin State Opera, Salzburg Easter Festival, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, and in a new Peter Sellars production for Paris Opera.  He has been associated with the Wagner repertoire since 1988, when he won the first Birgit Nilsson prize, and the following year, when he sang Lohengrin with the Royal Swedish Opera and at the Bolshoi Theatre. 

Many of Ben Heppner’s greatest portrayals have been revealed in new productions at the Metropolitan Opera, which include Robert Wilson’s production of Lohengrin, Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Florestan in Fidelio, Aeneas in Les Troyens, Ghermann in The Queen of Spades, and the Prince in Rusalka.  He has also been heard at the Met in Otello, his first performances of Parsifal, and as Laca in Jenufa.  He has sung these and other roles at Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, La Scala, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Mr. Heppner joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 for James Levine’s first concerts as the orchestra’s Music Director.  His large orchestral repertoire also includes Das Lied von der Erde, Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder, Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus, Britten’s War Requiem, and Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius.  He has performed these and other works with the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, the MET Orchestra, Chicago Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.  He has worked with conductors including Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, Christian Thielemann, Sir Andrew Davis, Daniel Barenboim, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

Ben Heppner can be heard on RCA Red Seal on several solo discs, including My Secret Heart, Dedication, Ben Heppner sings German Romantic Opera, and Great Tenor Arias.  His complete opera recordings include Lohengrin, Turandot, and Fidelio for RCA Red Seal, Die Meistersinger for both Decca and EMI, Rusalka for Decca, Hérodiade and Oberon for EMI, Der fliegende Holländer for Sony, Die Frau ohne Schatten for Teldec, and Ariadne auf Naxos for Deutsche Grammophon.  Also for Deutsche Grammophon he has released Airs Français, Ideale, a collection of Tosti songs, and a disc of arias from Wagner’s Die Walküre and Siegfried.  The label inaugurated its new series of live-recorded Metropolitan Opera performances on DVD with Mr. Heppner as Tristan and as Florestan in Fidelio.

Mr. Heppner studied music at the University of British Columbia.  He first gained national attention in 1979 as the winner of the Canadian Broadcasting Company Talent Festival. In December 1998, CBC television’s Something Special featured Ben Heppner in an hour-long portrait of the artist.  He is a 1988 winner of the Metropolitan Opera auditions and received Grammy® Awards in 1998 for his recording of Die Meistersinger on London/Decca records and in 2001 for his recording of Les Troyens with the London Symphony Orchestra on LSOLive.  Ben Heppner is a Companion of the Order of Canada.