www.nbr.co.nz/article/lexus-song-quest-won-be… (2016)

Samoan baritone Benson Wilson is the winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award, the Lexus Song Quest, and the Bel Canto Award, including the People’s Choice Award. A former Harewood Artist with English National Opera, he has performed with companies including Glyndebourne, Opera Holland Park, Longborough Festival Opera, Welsh National Opera, and most recently New Zealand Opera, where he appeared as Schaunard in La bohème.
A passionate recitalist, Benson has collaborated with pianists including Lucy Colquhoun, Ella O’Neill, James Baillieu, Iain Burnside, and Joseph Middleton, performing at Wigmore Hall and at festivals including Leeds Lieder, Oxford Lieder, Ludlow Song, Brighton Festival, and the Kings Lynn Festival.
On the concert platform, he has sung with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Wellington, and the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and made his debut with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Finzi’s Et in terra pax under Sakari Oramo.
Benson was a Young Artist at the Salzburg Festival in 2019, performing the role of Mirza in Der Gesang der Zauberinsel, and is a Samling Artist. He holds a Bachelor of Music with Honours from the University of Auckland, and completed postgraduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the National Opera Studio.

Recent highlights include Marcello in Robin Norton-Hale’s film of La bohème for Finite Films, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Britten’s War Requiem with Orchestra Wellington.
Upcoming engagements include his European debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and his return to Opera Holland Park ​in their 2026 season.

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