Bass soloist Benjamin LeClair recently completed his second summer residency at the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco where he sang Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte and Superintendant Budd in Britten’s Albert Herring.  Other recent operatic performances include the 2nd Soldier in Salome with Florentine Opera, and Banquo in Macbeth and Pistolo in Falstaff, both at Opera in the Heights. 

A popular concert and oratorio soloist as well, Ben has recently been heard in several Chicago venues, performing the bass solos in Messiah with the Baroque Band, and bass solos in a concert with the Callipygian Players in music by Giovanni Legrenzi.  Upcoming performances include Frank in Die Fledermaus with Salt Marsh Opera and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte at St. Petersburg Opera.  A repeat engagement with Opera in the Heights during its 2010-11 season will feature Ben as the Four Villains in Les Contes des Hoffmann.  His repertoire also includes the title role in Don Giovanni, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Mephistofeles in Faust, Seneca in the L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Colline in La Bohème, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Figaro and Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro, Oroveso in Norma, Verdi’s Requiem, and Jesus in both Passions of Bach, among numerous other roles and concert works.