SCHEDUle
UPCOMING ENGAGEMENTS
Mr. Bliss was most recently praised as "a peer of the best Toms in the opera’s seven-decade history" (Voix des Arts) in The Rake's Progress at the The Metropolitan Opera, where he returns for the 2024-2025 season in Grounded and Die Zauberflöte. He will make his operatic debut with Opéra National de Paris, as well as appearances with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble, and more.
BAVARIAN state opera
PELLÉAS ET MÉLISANDE
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PELLEAS
June 30 - July 22
2024
The opera Pelléas et Mélisande, premiered in Paris in 1902, is based on the drama of the same name by the Flemish Symbolist Maurice Maeterlinck, a tragically ending fairytale love triangle about the stepbrothers Golaud and Pelléas and the mysterious Mélisande, whom they both love. According to Maeterlinck, the outer plot is not the core of the drama for him, but rather he is trying to “descend deeper into human consciousness.” The image for this is Allemonde Castle, a gloomy, oppressive place without light. The actual plot remains vague, but Claude Debussy also explores psychological depths in his opera and addresses subliminal mental processes. His music remains subdued and repeatedly approaches silence. The composition shimmers in the most diverse colors that subtly make the figures shine. Pelléas et Mélisande is a tragedy of inwardness, enigmatic, morbid, deeply sad and full of beauty. Dutch director Jetske Mijnssen will be directing the production. Tenor Ben Bliss sings the title role.
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
GROUNDED
ERIC
September 23 - October 19
2024
Two-time Tony Award–winning composer Jeanine Tesori’s powerful new opera Grounded, commissioned by the Met and based on librettist George Brant’s acclaimed play, wrestles with the ethical quandaries and psychological toll of 21st-century warfare. Mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, one of opera’s most compelling young stars, portrays Jess, a hot-shot fighter pilot whose unplanned pregnancy takes her out of the cockpit and lands her in Las Vegas, operating a Reaper drone halfway around the world. As she struggles to adjust to this new way of doing battle, she fights to maintain her sanity, and her soul, as she is called to rain down death by remote control. Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin oversees the Met premiere of Tesori’s kaleidoscopic score and a cast that also features tenor Ben Bliss as the Wyoming rancher who becomes Jess’s husband. Michael Mayer’s high-tech staging, using a vast array of LED screens, presents a variety of perspectives on the action, including the drone’s predatory view from high above.
OpEra National de paris
THE RAKE'S PROGRESS
TOM RAKEWELL
THE METROPOLITAN OPERA
DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
TAMINO
March 23 - April 26
2025
Simon McBurney’s uproarious full-length German-language production of Mozart’s beloved fable—with its ingenious theatrical concoction of projections, puppetry, and special effects—returns to the Met stage following its celebrated 2023 premiere. Tenor Ben Bliss and soprano Golda Schultz are the noble lovers Tamino and Pamina, and baritone Thomas Oliemans repeats his animated portrayal of the outlandish bird catcher Papageno. Soprano Kathryn Lewek reprises her hair-raising turn as the Queen of the Night, Stephen Milling is the priest Sarastro, and Evan Rogister conducts.
CARNEGIE HALL
THE MET ORCHESTRA CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
TENOR
April 28
2025
The always-evolving Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble features musicians from the legendary Met Orchestra in a variety of unique programs. Together, along with special guest artists from the Metropolitan Opera and beyond, they explore a boundless world of chamber music, adapting to fit the instrumental needs of any piece—from all-time classics to hard-to-find hidden gems and standout works by many of today’s significant composers. In this evening’s performance, Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the ensemble with mezzo-soprano Michelle DeYoung and tenor Ben Bliss.
