Stage Director Benjamin Wayne Smith has made a career leading new productions ranging from Pergolesi’s La serva padrona to Conrad Susa’s The Dangerous Liasons. He brings a balance of practical experience and innovative storytelling to his projects, which have been hailed by Opera News as “full of comic inventiveness."

Ben has directed for Opera Memphis, Mobile Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Seattle Opera's Young Artist Program, Tacoma Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, The Intermountain Opera Association, the Young Artist Program at Pittsburgh Opera, the University of Cincinnati/CCM, Baldwin Wallace University and The Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy.

In 2013 Ben was appointed Artistic Director of the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti, a summer training program for young singers in Lucca, Italy.

Ben joined the faculty at Baldwin Wallace University in 2010 as their first full time Director of Opera.  In 2015, he joined the faculty at the University of Memphis.

He began his career in opera as a singer, performing twenty-one leading roles in opera, operetta and musical theater.  He has logged over 250 performances in the U.S. and Italy.