Benjamin Smolder

Benjamin Smolder, is an opera director, conductor, producer, educator, and bass-baritone. He is Associate Professor of Voice and Chair of the Department of Music at Miami University, where he also serves as Director of Miami University Opera Theater and is an Armstrong Endowed Professor. He is Director Emeritus of the Schmidt Vocal Competition and has served on the resident faculty of the Schmidt Vocal Institute. Smolder previously led the Schmidt Vocal Competition during a period of significant national expansion and growth.

As a conductor and director, Smolder has received eight national awards for collegiate opera productions and has twice been recognized by The American Prize, including the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize for Opera Direction and the American Prize for Virtual Opera Production. His work is distinguished by an interest in expanding the possibilities of opera through new works and productions incorporating film, extended-reality technologies, digital design, immersive media, and emerging technologies alongside traditional live performance.

In 2024, Smolder received the Miami University Award for Creativity and Innovation. He is also Director of Miami’s Great American Songbook Project, for which he has produced seven original programs featuring new arrangements as well as two professional recordings by the ensemble. In 2018, he co-founded S&L Productions, an organization created to develop professional American-style variety programming for television and large performance venues.

During the summers, Smolder has served as a conductor and director for the Festival of International Opera in São Paulo, Brazil, and Urbania, Italy, where he has conducted and staged productions of works by Mozart and Handel.

As a singer, Smolder has performed principal operatic roles internationally in Prague, Vienna, Cairo, Germany, and Italy. His operatic career has included appearances with Cincinnati Opera, Central City Opera, Opera Pacific, Santa Fe Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Columbus, Nevada Opera, and Dayton Opera. In concert, he has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Lexington Philharmonic, West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and Central Ohio Symphony.

He has appeared as a soloist at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Detroit Institute of Arts, and with the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra at the World Equestrian Games. His international festival appearances include the Spoleto Festival, Santander Festival, Festival Internacional de Música Pau Casals, Festival de Maó, and numerous performances throughout Spain.

His recordings include Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land with the Bohuslav Martinů Orchestra for Albany Records, American Tapestry and American Holiday with the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, and two recordings with the American Spiritual Ensemble. He has also appeared as a soloist for two United States Presidents, the King of Spain, and the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi.

A committed teacher and clinician, Smolder has presented at universities and professional organizations throughout the United States and has taught for the Washington National Opera Summer Institute at the Kennedy Center. He has presented for Classical Singer, the National Opera Center, the National Association of Teachers of Singing National Convention, and the American Choral Directors Association National Conference.

His students have been accepted into leading graduate programs and young artist programs and have gone on to professional careers in opera, musical theatre, higher education, music education, and arts leadership. Former students have performed at the Metropolitan Opera and on Broadway, while others have established careers as university professors, music educators, and arts professionals.