American conductor Benjamin Manis is quickly making a name for himself on the podiums of America’s major opera houses and concert halls. Always searching for more meaningful musical connections, for Ben, music making is all about relationships – with orchestras and singers, composers of yesterday and today, and audiences. His career has been defined by shaping and deepening those relationships. 

The most recent of those affiliations is with San Francisco Opera, where Ben made his debut in 2024 with Carmen, resulting in an immediate re-invitation for Barber of Seville in 2026. Operawire wrote that Ben “led the excellent San Francisco Opera orchestra [with] a confident, unflagging pace, the conductor’s sensitivity to tempo matching the needs of the singers”. While in San Francisco, Ben also led the SF Opera Orchestra and SFO’s Adler Fellows in a concert of arias, in which “Manis provided sympathetic and visibly attentive support to each singer” (SF Chronicle). Learn more at benjaminmanis.com