BIOGRAPHY

American conductor Benjamin Manis marked a successful end of his tenure as Associate Conductor of the Utah Symphony in the summer of 2023. During his time in Salt Lake, he led performances on tour throughout the state of Utah, as well as at Abravanel Hall and the Deer Valley Music Festival. From 2019-2022, Mr. Manis was Resident Conductor of the Houston Grand Opera, making his debut with Verdi’s Rigoletto; other highlights of his time in Houston include performances of Carmen, Romeo et Juliette and The Snowy Day. He led 3 world premieres at HGO, among them the 2020 world premiere of Marian’s Song with the subsequent HGO Digital filmed version and Miller Outdoor Theatre performances of the same work. Mr. Manis returned to HGO in the 22/23 season to conduct productions of Tosca and El Milagro del Recuerdo to critical acclaim.

The 23/24 season marked multiple returns to the Utah Symphony including a gala performance with Itzhak Perlman, as well as debuts with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra and Utah Opera, where he led a production of The Little Prince. In spring of 2024 Mr. Manis conducted a double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. After a successful week assisting Music Director Donald Runnicles at the Grand Teton Music Festival in August 2023, Mr. Manis was invited back to GTMF as their newly appointed Resident Conductor. The 24/25 season marks Mr. Manis’ debut with San Francisco Opera, conducting Francesca Zambello’s production of Carmen as well as a return to Rice University for John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versaille.

Four-time winner of the Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Awards (2024, 2023, 2022, 2019), Mr. Manis assisted renowned conductors like Thierry Fischer, Gianandrea Noseda, David Robertson, and Stéphane Denève at the St. Louis, Dallas, and National Symphonies. Over the course of three years in the Aspen Conducting Academy he assisted and worked closely with conductors such as Robert Spano, Ludovic Morlot, Leonard Slatkin, James Conlon and Vasily Petrenko. After winning the Aspen Conducting Prize, Mr. Manis was invited to returned to Aspen in the summer of 2021 as assistant conductor, where he conducted two programs with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Mr. Manis studied cello and conducting at the Colburn School, where he conducted outreach concerts in public schools across Los Angeles and performed Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto as soloist with conductor Robert Spano. A student of the late Larry Rachleff, he completed his Master of Music degree in 2019 at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Emily, and dog, Banjo.