Ben Wallace is a “versatile and vocally powerful” (Opera Canada) baritone, conductor, pianist, and teacher. He joins the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio this season, where he’ll be featured as Figaro in an Ensemble Studio performance of The Barber of Seville. He will also be playing Paris and role studying Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, covering Marullo and the Usher in Rigoletto and playing Brühlmann in a new production of Werther.
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, Prospero in Tempest Songbook, Bartley in Riders to the Sea, Pandolfe in Cendrillon (UofT Opera), Le Dancaïre/Moralès in Carmen (Southern Ontario Lyric Opera), John Brooke in Little Women (Opera Laurier), and Barone Douphol/Dottore Grenvil in La traviata (KW Symphony). Last summer, Ben travelled to the Banff Centre to workshop Indians on Vacation, a new chamber opera by Ian Cusson and Royce Vavrek.
On the concert stage, Ben has performed as the baritone soloist for Messiah, the Requiems of Fauré, Duruflé, and Brahms, and various Bach cantatas with organisations including the Grand Philharmonic Choir, Chor Amica, Grand River Chorus, Symphony in the Barn, and Spiritus Ensemble. This season, he will appear as a soloist for Messiah with the Guelph Chamber Choir, Spiritus Ensemble, Grand River Chorus, and Choral Connection, Mozart’s Requiem with Grand River Chorus, and Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël with Arcady Ensemble.
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 premiered four choral works by Canadian composer Justin Lapierre. Their most recent and ambitious project to date was the premiere 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 was the recipient of an Ontario Arts Council music presentation project grant in 2023. Ben earned his Master of Music degree from the University of Toronto and his Bachelor of Music from Wilfrid Laurier University.