“Truly exceptional tenor”
National Review
“Pianist Christopher Allen proved a thrilling collaborator, finding orchestral colors in his virtuosic playing.”
Opera Today
Vocal Arts DC presents
Ben Bliss, Tenor
Christopher Allen, Piano
Sunday, October 4th, 2026
Live! At 10th & G
945 G St NW Washington, DC 20001
5:00 PM
Single tickets on sale July 15th, 2026.
RECITAL DURATION TBD
Tenor Ben Bliss and pianist Christopher Allen launch our season with a program of irresistible breadth and warmth, drawing on the very finest of German and French song.
The first half of the evening moves through the Romantic landscape with an assured and generous hand, offering Lieder by Schumann, Liszt, and Strauss — music that encompasses the intimacy of the salon, the grand sweep of Romantic longing, and the opulent, golden-voiced lyricism for which Strauss’s songs in particular have made tenors rejoice for well over a century.
Bliss brings to this repertoire a voice of exceptional beauty — bright, focused, and capable of extraordinary refinement — along with a musician’s instinct for text and phrase that elevates every song he touches.
The program’s second half crosses the Rhine into France, where Reynaldo Hahn’s elegant mélodie, Lili Boulanger’s luminous writing, and the impressionist magic of Debussy await — songs in which charm, sensuality, and poetic nuance reign supreme. Woven throughout the evening are beloved song and aria favorites that showcase Bliss at his most radiant and communicative, reminding us why audiences and critics alike have placed him among the outstanding tenors of his generation.
With Christopher Allen — a collaborative pianist and conductor of rare gifts and long experience at the highest levels of the art form — at his side, this is an opening night to savor and to celebrate.
Selections Include:
Nacht und Traume – Schubert
Standchen – Strauss
Zueignung – Strauss
Kuda, Kuda – Tchaikovsky
The arrow and the song – Liebermann
Spring is like perhaps a hand – Argento
How sweet the answer — Britten
La flute de Pan – Debussy
Si mes vers avaient des ailes – Hahn
A Chloris – Hahn
Where or when – Benny Goodman
One for my baby – Sinatra
*Selections subject to change*
THE SOUND WORLD OF BEN BLISS & CHRISTOPHER ALLEN
Listen to Ben!
Listen to Christopher!
MEET THE ARTISTS
BEN BLISS, TENOR
Hailed as a “truly exceptional tenor” by the National Review, Ben Bliss has established himself as one of the most exciting performers on today’s operatic stage, both in his native America and internationally. Ben has been cited as “an exemplar of the Mozartean tenor” for his “purity of tone, vocal control and artistic sensitivity” (Opera Warhorses).
MORE ABOUT BEN!
Hailed as a “truly exceptional tenor” by the National Review, Ben Bliss has established himself as one of the most exciting performers on today’s operatic stage, both in his native America and internationally. Ben has been cited as “an exemplar of the Mozartean tenor” for his “purity of tone, vocal control and artistic sensitivity” (Opera Warhorses). Ben was a 2021 recipient of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills Award. His numerous other accolades include the 2016 Martin E. Segal award at the Lincoln Center, the Mozart and Plácido Domingo awards at the 2015 Francisco Viñas International Competition, first prize at the 2014 Gerda Lissner and Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation competitions, and the 2013 Operalia Don Plácido Domingo Sr. Zarzuela prize.
In 25/26, Ben makes his anticipated role debut as the Duke in Rigoletto with the Canadian Opera Company. He also returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni conducted by Yannick Nézet Séguin, performs in Houston Grand Opera’s staged Messiah, and sings Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with the St. Louis Symphony. Other concert highlights include a return with the Chicago Symphony for a Mozart Requiem, a solo recital at LA Opera, as well as a Messiah concert tour with the Handel and Haydn Society.
Last season’s highlights include two roles at the Metropolitan Opera – a debut as Eric in Jeanine Tesori’s new opera Grounded, and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte. Ben also returned to the Opéra national de Paris as Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress and performed the role of Jupiter in Semele for his house debuts at both the Royal Opera House and the Théâtre des Champs Elysées. Concert engagements included performances with the Metropolitan Opera and Yannick Nézet-Séguin at Carnegie Hall, as well as with the Chamber Music Society Lincoln Center.
While in the Lindemann Program Ben made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut as Vogelgesang in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg under James Levine and has since returned as Steuermann Der Fliegende Höllander under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tamino Die Zauberflöte and Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Ben made his European debut in this role with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera on tour in 2015.
Other operatic highlights have included Tamino at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Los Angeles Opera and Philadelphia Opera, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni at the Opéra national de Paris and Canadian Opera Company, Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte at the Wiener Staatsoper, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Oper Frankfurt, Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress for the Boston Lyric Opera, Pélléas in Pélléas et Mélisande with the Bayerische Staatsoper, Roméo in Roméo et Juliette with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Flamand Capriccio and Robert Wilson in Peter Sellars’ new production of Dr. Atomic in Santa Fe.
Ben’s concert highlights include his debuts with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel and the NY Philharmonic as Tony in Bernstein’s West Side Story Concert Suite No. 1 with Alan Gilbert, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson-Thomas, Haydn’s Creation and Cassio Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival under James Conlon, a house and role debut as Count de Rosillon Die lustige Witwe in concert at the Liceu Barcelona, and a US recital tour including Carnegie Hall with pianist Lachlan Glen. Ben also appeared alongside Isabel Leonard for Ferdinand and Miranda’s love duet from Ades’ The Tempest at the Metropolitan Opera’s 50th Anniversary gala concert in 2017.
um ipsum dolor
CHRISTOPHER ALLEN, PIANO
Recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Christopher Allen is featured in Opera News as “one of the fastest-rising podium stars in North America.”
MORE ABOUT CHRISTOPHER!
Recipient of The Sir Georg Solti Conducting Award, Christopher Allen is featured in Opera News as “one of the fastest-rising podium stars in North America.” He has led acclaimed operatic and symphonic performances with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Utah Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Kansas City Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Virginia Symphony, North Carolina Symphony, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Orquesta Clásica Santa Cecila, George Enescu Philharmonic, West Los Angeles Symphony, Cincinnati Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Omaha, Opéra de Montréal, English National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Washington National Opera, Detroit Opera, North Carolina Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Atlanta Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Daegu Opera House in South Korea, Korean Symphony Orchestra, and China National Opera Orchestra and Chorus.
Upcoming highlights in the 2025-2026 season include The Rake’s Progress at Des Moines Metro Opera, Fourth Wall Ensemble’s West Coast Tour (for which Allen serves as Artistic Director), Florida Grand Opera’s Silent Night, Fourth Wall Ensemble performance at Merkin Hall, in concert with Ben Bliss at Los Angeles Opera, and re-engagements with Tucson Symphony and Omaha Symphony. Additionally, he returns to Atlanta Opera for The Marriage of Figaro, and conducts the world- premiere opera DRIFT by Alyssa Weinberg at Opera Saratoga.
Allen’s career was launched by the Bruno Walter Conducting Award and Memorial Career Grant and has been fostered by Plácido Domingo and James Conlon, who brought him to Los Angeles Opera as Associate Conductor. At LA Opera, Allen led the musical preparation for the acclaimed The Ghosts of Versailles, which won a Grammy Award for Best Opera. Recognized as a Musical America Artist of the Month and one of their “25 Stars Still Rising,” Allen is also an International Opera Awards nominee, and recent recipient of the Young Alumni Award from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Allen demonstrates his commitment to education through his work with young artists at Los Angeles Opera, Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Aspen Music Festival and School, New England Conservatory, Mannes School of Music, A.J. Fletcher Institute at University of North Carolina School of the Arts, and University of Missouri- Kansas City. He has been heard on NPR speaking about the importance of the arts in American society. As an award-winning pianist, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, on film in La voix humaine, starring Patricia Racette and directed by James Darrah, and in Emily, a production he created for Opéra de Montréal and performed at Wolf Trap.
Allen’s artistic pursuits extend beyond his role as conductor. He is the Creative and Artistic Director of Fourth Wall Ensemble, an innovative vocal ensemble, which he founded in 2023. Under the Artistic leadership of Christopher Allen, Fourth Wall Ensemble redefines vocal performance, blending tradition with bold new artistic explorations. The ensemble’s recent highlights include performances at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Death of Classical, Power Station at Berklee, The Cell Theatre, Avaloch Farm Music Institute, National Sawdust, and in collaboration with Beth Morrison Projects in Paola Prestini’s world premiere opera, Sensorium Ex. Upcoming engagements for the ensemble include a return to Avaloch Farm Music Institute for a summer residency, a West Coast Tour, a return to Merkin Hall, and a recording release of Kaija Saariaho’s Nuits, Adieux at National Sawdust+. Fourth Wall Ensemble can be heard on two recordings: Awake, and Ad Manus, the group’s debut album created in partnership with GRAMMY® Award-winning trio Time for Three and five-time EMMY® Award-winning composer Jeff Beal (House of Cards).
Allen is a Recording Academy voting member, and serves on the Board of The Solti Foundation US.
rum ipsum dolor