Published: 19 July 2011
Category: Vocal & Opera

Baritone Benedict Nelson has made his debut this week at the prestigious Verbier Festival in Switzerland. On Sunday 17 July he gave a concert of music by twentieth-century American composers Samuel Barber (On Dover Beach) and Milton Babbitt (Two Sonnets for baritone, clarinet, viola and cello). Then on Tuesday 19 July Benedict sings the role of Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, alongside celebrated mezzo-soprano Angelika Kirchschlager as Dido, with the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra and conductor Gábor Takács-Nagy. This performance will be recorded and broadcast on Swiss radio.

Benedict has had several notable debuts this season, including performances with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (leading to a re-invitation for two further engagements next season), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and with Opéra Anger Nantes, where he sang the role of Tarquinius in Rape of Lucretia. Next season he takes on two major roles for English National Opera – Belcore L’elisir d’amore and the title role in a new production by David Alden of Britten’s Billy Budd – and has concerts with the Bergen Philharmonic, RTÉ Orchestra of Ireland, the Ulster Orchestra, Basel Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen and the Utah Symphony Orchestra with Thierry Fischer.

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