Stage Director Ben Smith has made a career leading new productions in professional opera and academia. 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, Opera Montana, 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, The University of Memphis, Baldwin Wallace University and The Opera Theater of Lucca, Italy.

Ben is in his tenth season as the General and Artistic Director of the Accademia Vocale Lorenzo Malfatti, a summer training program for classical singers in Lucca, Italy.

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He is an associate professor and the Stage Director for Opera at the University of Memphis. He was the first full-time Director of Opera at Baldwin Wallace University from 2010-2015.

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Ben began his career 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.