Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Pittsburgh native Benjamin Werley has been praised for his “gleaming, flexible tenor” (Opera News) and has appeared with many of the country’s leading opera companies. Equally at home in standard repertoire and contemporary works, Werley has created roles in new operas while continuing to add cornerstone tenor parts to his repertoire.

His recent performances include Cavaradossi (Tosca) with Opera Montana, Anchorage Opera, and St. Petersburg Opera; Narraboth (Salome) with San Diego Opera, Dayton Opera, and Florida Grand Opera; Roméo (Roméo & Juliette) with El Paso Opera; Don José (Carmen) with Anchorage Opera; Edgardo (Lucia di Lammermoor) with St. Petersburg Opera and the New Jersey Festival Orchestra; Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut) with Opera Festival of Chicago; Red Whiskers (Billy Budd) with Central City Opera; Nemorino (The Elixir of Love) with Dayton Opera; and The Prince (Rusalka) with Opera Ithaca. He also appeared as Sheriff Garnett Brooks/Judge Leon M. Bazile in the World Premiere of Loving v. Virginia with Virginia Opera. A frequent collaborator with the Southern Illinois Music Festival, Werley has sung Ruggero (La rondine), Percy (Anna Bolena), Nemorino (The Elixir of Love), and Herod (Salome).

Upcoming engagements include his Arizona Opera debut as Justice Antonin Scalia in Scalia/Ginsburg and his return to San Diego Opera as Elder Gleaton in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah.