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Biography
The music of American composer Ben Moore includes art song, opera, musical theatre, cabaret, chamber music, choral music and comedy material. His work has been called “brilliant” and “gorgeously lyrical” by the New York Times while Opera News has praised the “easy tunefulness” and “romantic sweep” of his songs. Singers who have performed his work include Deborah Voigt, Susan Graham, Frederica von Stade, Isabel Leonard, Lawrence Brownlee, Robert White, Nathan Gunn and Audra McDonald.
Moore composed the scores for three operas including Enemies, a Love Story which premiered at Palm Beach Opera in 2015 and was seen at Kentucky Opera in November 2018. Based on the novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer, with a libretto by Nahma Sandrow, the opera has been called “an important new work that will find its place among those works that audiences will be moved by...” (Fred Plotkin/WQXR). Odyssey and Robin Hood are youth operas commissioned by the Glimmerglass Festival with librettos by Kelley Rourke. Odyssey premiered at Glimmerglass in 2015 and has since been seen at venues across the country including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Minnesota Opera. Opera News called it “an opera for all ages” with an “ebullient and lyrical” score (See complete review here). Robin Hood premiered at Glimmerglass in August 2017 and was seen at Seattle Opera in February 2018, and Houston Grand Opera in June 2018. For information on both works please visit youthopera.org.
Ben's songs can be heard on Deborah Voigt's All My Heart (EMI) with eight Moore works, Nathan Gunn's Just Before Sunrise (SonyBMG), Lawrence Brownlee's This Heart that Flutters (Opus Arte) and Susan Graham at Carnegie Hall (Warner Classics). Dear Theo (Delos records) features three of Ben's song cycles. These include Dear Theo, based on the letters of Vincent van Gogh; So Free Am I, on poems by women; and Ode to a Nightingale, a setting of John Keats' great poem. Read the Opera News review here.
In 2006 the Metropolitan Opera featured two of his comedy songs in a gala broadcast nationally. 2006 also saw the release of the volume “Ben Moore: 14 Songs” published by G. Schirmer. Reviewing the album, Classical Singer Magazine wrote: “...you can find a breath of fresh air in the settings included in this volume... This composer is not afraid of the past, but rather embraces many of the most beautiful aspects of his artistic heritage while imbuing his work with its own personal colors and tones.”
Born on January 2, 1960, in Syracuse, New York, Moore grew up in Clinton, New York and graduated from Hamilton College. With an MFA from The Parsons School of Design, Ben is also a
painter and teaches at New York's Guggenheim Museum and Morgan Library.
OPERA America/Opera.ca Grants Awarded
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| GRANT NAME | YEAR | The Opera Fund: Repertoire Development | 2011 |
Productions
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Artist Information
All information is derived from OPERA America's Season Schedule of Performances and titles databases which date back to 1991. OPERA America is constantly updating this data. If you feel that a work or an artist has been omitted or that information is incorrect, please use the linked forms below. Title Information Form Artist Information Form
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