Ben Thapa

Ben Thapa started his career as one quarter of the classical crossover quartet G4, runners up on the first series of the X Factor in 2004. After 5 albums and several years of touring the UK and abroad, Ben left the group in 2018. As a soloist, Ben runs a busy diary on opera and concert stages across the UK and abroad. An alumnus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, Royal College of Music and the Wales International Academy of Voice, Ben has been supported by the Wagner Society, and continues his studies with David Pollard.

Recent successes include the role of Arbace Idomeneo (Buxton Festival), Siegfried The Quest for the Ring (Royal Festival Hall/Opera North), as well as concert performances taking in the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, St Martin-in-the Fields and Birmingham Symphony Hall. Ben has performed several recitals at Leeds Town Hall, including premiering Simon Lindley’s Five Hymns to the Virgin. Recordings include Mat of the Mint The Beggar’s Opera, (Royal Opera, Chandos).

In 2012, Ben performed the role of the President in the UK premiere of Stockhausen’s Mittwoch aus Licht for Birmingham Opera Company, repeated in 2013 at the BBC Proms. Further operatic roles include Tamino Die Zauberflöte and Florestan Fidelio for Garsington Opera Emerging Artists, Vanya Kudrjas Katya Kabanova for Scottish Opera, Tito La Clemenza di Tito at the Teatru Manoel, Malta, Kuzka Kovanschina for Birmingham Opera Company, Melot Tristan und Isolde for Longborough Festival Opera.  In 2020, Ben made his main stage debut at English National Opera as part of their Carmen education project, and created the roles of Dr Anton and Salieri The Paradis Files for Graeae Theatre Company, which toured the UK in 2022. Ben also performed the role of Conan in the new opera Morrigan, performed at the Cork Opera House.

Ben’s concert repertory is incredibly varied, ranging from Monteverdi Vespers, the Bach Passions and nearly all of the mainstream Handel repertory, through to the dramatic Romantic repertory, including Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Puccini and Elgar.  Ben was a featured artist with the Really Big Chorus in 2010-11, and at the Royal Albert Hall, was their soloist for Handel Messiah, Haydn Creation and Mozart Requiem. Further concert highlights include a Monteverdi Vespers tour with the Monteverdi Choir, Matthew Passion (arias) for Ex Cathedra, Handel Messiah with the CBSO, Beethoven 9 at St John’s Smith Square, performances with the Manchester Camerata including Messiah, Britten St. Nicholas, and Beethoven Missa Solemnis, and three invites to give recitals at Leeds Town Hall. Other repertory performed varies from the Bach Passions, the title roles in Handel’s Jephtha and Samson, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Verdi Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, and Tippett A Child of Our Time.

Future and current plans include Mozart Requiem and Haydn Nelson Mass at Leeds Town Hall, the role of Branwell in Keynote Opera’s new opera Brönte, the Evangelist in Armonico Consort’s concerts of Bach St. Matthew Passion, as well as performances of Aeneas Dido and Aeneas (Purcell) and Monteverdi Vespers with the same ensemble, and Siegmund Die Walküre in concert at St. John’s, Smith Square.

www.benthapa.com

Photo credit: Robert Workman

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