Canadian Cultural Icon Night -- Ben Heppner

Ben Heppner is an extraordinary dramatic tenor. His voice is, well, you’ll get to listen to it. Reviewers say his dramatic talent is excellent, and so are his diction, phrasing and interpretation of his roles.

He’s 52 years old now, and was born on the Canadian west coast, and lived in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory, and studied music at University of British Columbia. He’s just performed Siegried in Aix-en-Provence last week – Siegried as a lumberjack. The production didn’t get a great review, but he did. If you’re out in lumberjack country, he has concert dates in Seattle, Lethbridge, Vancouver, White Horse, Yellowknife and northern Alberta and Saskatchewan from mid-August through mid-October.

Siegried is one of his signature roles, as are Tristan and Lohengrin, but he doesn't confine himself to Wagner. It would have been easy enough to post a video of one of those, and I probably will, some other day. Tonight, you’re getting one of my favourite arias – “Nessun Dorma” from Puccini’s Turandot. Stunning, stunning. If you already like opera, it’s wonderful. If you don’t think you know or like opera, you’ll probably recognize it. If you really don’t think you like opera, well, it’s only three minutes and eight seconds long … And maybe this will change your mind.