Internationally acclaimed Canadian tenor Benjamin Butterfield made his Pacific Opera Victoria debut in 1990 as Triquet in Eugene Onegin. He subsequently returned for performances as Ferrando (Così fan tutte, 1991), Lysander (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1993), Ernesto (Don Pasquale, 1993), Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw, 1997), Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni (1999 and 2007), Jupiter in Handel’s Semele, Grimoaldo in Rodelinda (2010), and Mime in Das Rheingold (2014).
Ben may also be heard in recital with pianist Kinza Tyrrell as part of Pacific Opera’s series Lunchbox Opera Online.
Mr. Butterfield was born in Halifax and raised in Victoria, where his musical life started as a boy chorister at Christ Church Cathedral. Formal voice studies followed with Selena James at the Victoria Conservatory of Music while he was in attendance at the University of Victoria. He completed further studies at McGill University and the Banff Centre and received grants from the Canada Council to further his vocal studies with Diane Forlano in London and with the great Mozart tenor Leopold Simoneau.
He has performed with many of the world’s leading conductors including Sir Andrew Davis, James Conlon, Nicholas McGegan, Charles Dutoit, Leonard Slatkin, Bramwell Tovey, Seiji Ozawa, Bernard Labadie, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, Jeffrey Thomas, Trevor Pinnock, Bruno Weil and Marc Minkowski.
In recent seasons Ben has made multiple appearances with the Baltimore, Nashville, Houston, St. Louis, and Vancouver Symphonies and the Calgary Philharmonic. He performs regularly with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem including their annual Bach Festival and with the Victoria Symphony, Victoria Choral Society, Victoria Philharmonic Choir, and White Rock Concerts.
A prolific recording artist, Ben has recorded for Analekta, Dorian, CBC Records, Koch International and Timpani (France). He has also been featured in Messiah on ZDF at the Handel-Festspiele Halle with Trevor Pinnock and the English Concert and on CBC Radio as a guest host for This is my Music. Recently Mr. Butterfield recorded the St. John Passion with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem (Analekta), the Rhien transcription of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde for Yellow Barn and a sixth CD of Ukrainian Art Song for the Ukrainian Art Song Project in Toronto.
In fall of 2018, Butterfield was named a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the country’s highest academic honour. Professor, head of voice, and co-head of performance for the School of Music at the University of Victoria, he was the 2015 recipient of the UVic. Craigdarroch Award for Excellence in Artistic Expression. He has also served as guest faculty for Opera Nuova, the Amalfi Coast Music Festival in Italy, the Victoria Conservatory Summer Vocal Academy, Vancouver International Song Institute, Yellow Barn, and Opera on the Avalon.