Benjamin Smith
Stage Director for Opera
Education
- M.F.A., Master of Fine Arts, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 2007
- M.M., Master of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 2003
- B.M., Bachelor of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 1999
Biography
Stage Director Ben Smith has made a career leading new productions in professional
opera and academia. He brings a balance of practical experience and innovative storytelling
to his projects, which have been hailed by Opera News as “full of comic inventiveness."
Ben has directed for Opera Memphis, Opera Montana, Mobile Opera, Indianapolis Opera,
Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program, Tacoma Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre
of Pittsburgh, The Intermountain Opera Association, the Young Artist Program at Pittsburgh
Opera, the University of Cincinnati/CCM, The University of Memphis, Baldwin Wallace
University and The Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy.
Ben is in his tenth season as the General and Artistic Director of the Accademia Vocale
Lorenzo Malfatti, a summer training program for classical singers in Lucca, Italy.
He is an associate professor and the Stage Director for Opera at the University of
Memphis. He was the first full-time Director of Opera at Baldwin Wallace University
from 2010-2015.
Ben began his career as a singer, performing twenty-one leading roles in opera, operetta
and musical theater. He has logged over 250 performances in the U.S. and Italy.
