Suave-toned and supremely inspired, baritone Benjamin Appl makes his SF Performances debut in a varied and energetic program of songs and Lieder. "...fearlessly physical, with a broad palette of tones and styles." (New York Times)
Benjamin Appl, Gramophone Award Young Artist of the Year 2016, is celebrated by audiences and critics in recital, concerts and opera. He was a member of the BBC New Generation Artist scheme from 2014-16 and was also a Wigmore Hall Emerging Artist and ECHO Rising Star for the 2015-16 season, appearing in recital at major European venues including the Barbican Centre London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Wiener Konzerthaus, Philharmonie Paris and Cologne and the Laeiszhalle Hamburg. He became an exclusive SONY Classical recording artist in May 2016. He trained as a chorister at the renowned Regensburger Domspatzen and continued his studies at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Munchen and graduated from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London, where he now teaches German Lieder. He had the good fortune to be mentored by one of the greatest singers of the twentieth century, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau.
Described by The Daily Telegraph as 'in a class of his own' James Baillieu has been the prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition, Das Lied International Song Competition, Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber Competitions. He was selected for representation by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2010 and in 2012 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and a Geoffrey Parsons Memorial Trust Award. In 2016 he was shortlisted for the Royal Philharmonic Society Outstanding Young Artist Award. James has given solo and chamber recitals throughout Europe and further afield. He collaborates with a wide range of singers and instrumentalists.