Ben Thapa (1982-2024)

Tenor

Ben Thapa studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal College of Music before graduating from the Wales International Academy of Voice in 2013 under the tutelage of Dennis O’Neill. He is also a former Britten Pears Young Artist.

His operatic roles included President Mittwoch aus Licht (Birmingham Opera/BBC Proms); Kuzka Khovanschina (Birmingham Opera Company); Vanya Kudrjash Katya Kabanova (Scottish Opera); Tito La clemenza di Tito (Teatru Manoel); Salieri/Doctor/Gossip The Paradis Files (Graeae Theatre Company); Monostatos Die Zauberflöte (Opera de Baugé, Wild Arts); Arbace Idomeneo and Aufidio Lucio Silla (Buxton International Festival); Melot Tristan und Isolde (Longborough Festival Opera); Tamino The Magic Flute (Regents Opera, Ryedale Festival, Garsington Emerging Artists); Cavaradossi Tosca and Don José Carmen (Minack Theatre); First Armed Man The Magic Flute (Garsington Opera); Dick Johnson Fanciulla del West (OperaUpClose); and Mat of the Mint The Beggar’s Opera (The Royal Opera). He also performed Siegfried The Quest for the Ring at the Royal Festival Hall in association with Opera North.

He also covered Actaeon Diana and Actaeon (The Royal Opera); Max Der Freischütz (Opéra Comique); Florestan Fidelio and Tamino The Magic Flute (Garsington Opera); Anatole War and Peace (Welsh National Opera); Orpheus the Man in The Mask of Orpheus, Kunz Vogelgesang The Mastersingers of Nuremberg (English National Opera); Florestan Leonore and Bajazet Tamerlano (Buxton International Festival); and the tenor roles in Philip Glass’ The Trial (Music Theatre Wales).

In concert he performed Monteverdi Vespers (Monteverdi Choir); Handel Messiah (Royal Albert Hall, Hanover Band, Manchester Camerata); Beethoven 9th Symphony (St. David’s Hall, Cardiff); Elgar Dream of Gerontius (Tewkesbury Abbey); Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music (Royal Festival Hall); Rossini Petite messe solennelle (Jesus College Cambridge); Rachmaninov The Bells (King’s College Cambridge); Mozart C Minor Mass (St. John’s Smith Square); Mozart Requiem (Royal Albert Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall); Verdi Requiem (Saffron Hall, G-Live Guildford); Britten St. Nicolas (Wakefield Cathedral); and a recital at Leeds Town Hall with Dr. Simon Lindley.

Steven Swales Artist Management represents Ben Thapa worldwide

Reviews

Siegmund / Die Walküre / London Opera Company / 2023

“Thapa has a big, bright, forward-loaded tenor with an admirable ability to project the words. Yet this was a dramatic performance too, his Siegmund was big yet shambling and nervous. The entire act was about the journey that this damaged young man and his sister, the equally damaged Sieglined (Boyle) took from subservience to radiance.”
(Planet Hugill)

“As Siegmund, Ben Thapa displayed a Kaufmann-like rounded beauty of tone with Sieglinde, magnificent power upon his releasing of the sword Nothung and transcendent humanity during his duet with Brünnhilde. Thapa’s voice is a strikingly versatile instrument. Effortlessly powerful when required, in ‘Winterstürme’ – one of the evening’s many Highlights…”
(Wagner News)


Tito / La clemenza di Tito / Chelsea Opera Group / 2023

“Ben Thapa made a vivid Tito, anxious from the word go and really bringing out the character’s dilemma. His big Act Two aria was finely done, and there was little sense of this being a last-minute stand in, the performance was confident and fully formed.”
(Planet Hugill)


Salieri/A Doctor/Tenor / The Paradis Files / Graeae Theatre Company / 2022

“…Thapa is deeply creepy as Salieri…”
(The Guardian)

“…Ben Thapa as the menacing Salieri.”
(The Stage)

“…virtuoso multi-tasking…”
(iNews)

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