American tenor Ben Bliss has been named the recipient of the 2026 Beverly Sills Artist Award, presented annually by the Metropolitan Opera to an exceptionally gifted singer with a rising career at the company. The prize includes an award of $50,000 and was established in 2006 through a donation by former Met board member Agnes Varis and her husband Karl Leichtman, in honour of the late American soprano Beverly Sills.
Bliss made his Met debut in 2014 as Vogelgesang in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg while a member of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program. Since then, he has appeared at the company in roles including Arturo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, and Eric in Grounded. He is also scheduled to sing Nikolaus Sprink in the Met premiere of Silent Night next season.
In a statement released by the Met, Bliss said he felt “deeply honoured” to receive the award and reflected on his long relationship with the company, describing the opera house as his artistic home for nearly fifteen years.
Recent engagements elsewhere have included the Duke of Mantua in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Canadian Opera Company, Don Ottavio and Tom Rakewell at the Paris Opera, Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Tamino at the Bavarian State Opera, and Jupiter in Handel’s Semele in debuts at Royal Ballet and Opera and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.
On the concert stage, Bliss has performed Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas and appeared in recital with soprano Louise Alder at Wigmore Hall.
Previous recipients of the Beverly Sills Artist Award include Joyce DiDonato, Matthew Polenzani, Nadine Sierra, Lisette Oropesa, Angel Blue, Will Liverman, Leah Hawkins, and Rachel Willis-Sørensen. In 2021, the Met awarded the prize jointly to five singers in response to the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, including Bliss himself.
The award was created to support emerging opera artists by helping cover professional expenses such as coaching, language study, and travel. Beverly Sills, who died in 2007, was widely recognised not only for her career on stage but also for her advocacy of young singers and opera outreach in the United States.
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