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The English tenor, Michael Bennett [Bennet], studied at Durham University (1984-1987) and and was a choral scholar at Durham Cathedral. He later studied at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Michael Bennett first came to public attention as the Madwoman in Yoshi Oida‘s production of Benjamin Britten's Curlew River at Aix-en-Provence, in which he also starred in the New York revival. He returned to Aix-en-Provence as Don Curzio in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro, and as both Mercurio and First Soldier in L'Incoronazione di Poppea, a production he also sang in Vienna and the Cité de la Musique, Paris.
Career highlights include Arlecchino in Luca Mosca’s Signor Goldoni at Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Tenor in Philip Glass’ Hydrogen Jukebox at Opéra de Nantes, Dido and Aeneas in Lyon, Tenor in Philip Glass’s The Penal Colony at Music Theatre Wales (recorded on CD), Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw at Opera Ile de France, Paris, Rector Adams in B. Britten's Peter Grimes and Dr Caius in Verdi's Falstaff at Opéra de Nancy, Le Pecheur in Igor Stravinsky's Le Rossignol for Opéra de Rouen, as well as guest appearances at Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Leipzig, Théâtre de la Monnaie in Bruxelles, Garsington Opera, Stadttheater Klagenfurt, BBC Radio 3 and Radio 4, Dutch Radio, Nord Deutsche Rundfunk, Radio France Musique, Strasbourg Music Festival, Y Arts Centre, New York, Opéra National de Rhin, Strasbourg, Berliner Festwochen and the Centre Dramatique National de Création Contemporaine, Paris. Among his other roles: Goro in Madama Butterfly by Puccinier roles.
Most recent and future engagements of Michael Bennett include Servant in the UK premiere of Salvatore Sciarrino's The Killing Flower (Luci mie Traditrici) and roles in the new Philip Glass opera The Trial Music at Theatre Wales, Don Basilio in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at Kammerakademie Potsdam, Dr. Cajus in Verdi's Falstaff at Longborough Festival, Tenor in The Tyrant at Teatro Comunale di Bolzano, Prologue/Quint in B. Britten's Turn of the Screw at New Israeli Opera (2013) and Witch/Sailor in Sascha Waltz' hugely successful production of Dido and Aeneas at Waldbühne Berlin and Staatsoper Berlin.
Michael Bennett is equally at home with contemporary and Baroque music, having performed the role of Hyllus in George Frideric Handel's Hercules in Athens and at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and the role of Sandy in Peter Maxwell Davies' opera The Lighthouse at Newcastle Playhouse (MTW production). In the world of contemporary music he has worked closely with composers Marc Monnet and Anglo-Indian composer Param Vir (the opera Ion) as well as Ensemble Modèrne and Ensemble Psappha. |
