Ben Malensek

Ben Malensek served on the music staff of the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for 32 seasons as Principal Coach/ English Diction Specialist. He was Head of Music Staff at the Dallas Opera for eleven seasons in addition to working at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, New York City Opera, Washington National Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. In Europe he was a member of the Zürich Opera Internationales Opern Studio.

International artists with whom he has collaborated include Neil Shicoff, Samuel Ramey, Frederica von Stade, Ileana Cotrubas, Paul Groves, Carol Vaness, Stephen Costello, Ailyn Perez, Isabel Leonard, Raymond Aceto, Adrianne Pieczonka, Morris Robinson and Luca Pisaroni. He is often called upon to judge The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and has worked with the apprentice artists at The Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Central City Opera, Chautauqua Institute and The Banff Festival, as well as serving on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. He has a BM degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and a MM degree from The Manhattan School of Music.