Benjamin Hewat-Craw (Baritone)

Born: July 23, ____ - Milborne Port, Somerset, England

The English baritone, Benjamin Hewat-Craw, grew up in Dorset and sang as a child in the Sherborne Abbey Choir whenmn he studied at Sherborne School (2006-2011). While studying at Durham University (2011-2014), he studied with Baritone Richard Morrison and took part twice in the Samling Academy in Newcastle. Since September 2015 he has studied at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, Germany for Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Singing (expected graduation in July 2019), with Christoph Prégardien, one of the leading Lieder singers of his generation. He also receives tuition in the field of Lieder from Götz Payer and Professor Ulrich Eisenlohr and vocal coaching from Semyon Rozin and Benjamin Schneider from Staatstheater Wiesbaden. He has had successful master-classes with Sir Thomas Allen, Roderick Williams, and Caroline Dowdle of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artists' Programme.

In the field of oratorio, Benjamin Hewat-Craw has a rich amount of experience with a repertoire ranging from Purcell to Arvo Pärt and has been featured as a soloist in the cathedrals of Durham and St. Paul’s, London as well as the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach and many local churches in and around the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf. He has a particular passion for the music of J.S. Bach and regularly performs his cantatas for church services.

Benjamin Hewat-Craw is a keen performer of both German and English Art Song. In November 2017 he had the honour of performing in the Beethoven House Recital Hall to a sold out audience. He has a particular focus on the song cycles of Robert Schumann and Schubert and is performing his first Winterreise in September 2018. In the field of English Art Song, Benjamin has a particular love of the composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gerald Finzi, whose cycles he has performed a number of times in both Germany and the UK.

On the opera stage Benjamin Hewat-Craw has also sung the role of Papageno in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (September 2016-March 2017), Masetto in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni (September 2016), Corydon und Winter in The Fairy Queen by Purcell, Capellio in I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini, and Cascada in Die Lustige Witwe. He has sung in both Oper Köln (September 2017-July 2018), Theater Bonn (December 2015-June 2016) and Staatstheater Mainz (January-May 2018).

Benjamin Hewat-Craw sings in the period music groups Chorus Musicus Köln (Director: Christoph Spering; December 2015-December 2017) and Studium Chorale in Maastricht and with the touring opera group Pasta Opera (February 2016-October 2018). He is also a scholar of the Rundfunkchor Berlin (February-March 2017). He currently lives in Cologne, Germany.

Source: Benjamin Hewat-Craw Website & LinkedIn/Facebook profiles; Photos 01, 03, 05, 07, 09, 11-12, 14-15: © Christian Palm
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (December 2018)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Christoph Spering

Bass

Member of Chorus Musicus Köln:
[C-6] (2018): CD-1: BWV 20, BWV 93, BWV 3; CD-2: BWV 10, BWV 116, BWV 124
[C-7] (2019): CD-1: BWV 137, BWV 140, BWV 26; CD-2: BWV 41, BWV 115, BWV 95

Links to other Sites

Benjamin Hewat-Craw - Baritone (Official Website)
Benjamin Hewat-Craw on LinkedIn
Benjamin Hewat-Craw on Facebook