Biography:

Originally from Bath, England. Studied Literature and Theatre in the UK, France and Brazil. Taught English for 5 years in London. Staff director at Welsh National Opera, Cardiff, for 10 years. Also worked as a staff director at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and Canadian Opera Company, Toronto. Currently working as a freelance opera director and movement director.

                                         Cosi fan tutte, WNO

            ‘Imagine Hi-de-Hi! rewritten by Joe Orton, or maybe Dario Fo’

                    (4 stars) The Times, May 2011

Currently: Associate Director of Al Gran Sole Carico d’Amore, for Katie Mitchell, at Kraftwerk Mitte in Berlin, for Staatsoper im Schiller Theater.

Most recently: Associate Director/Choreographer for Katie Mitchell on Orest, by Manfred Trojhan, for De Nederlandse Opera, which had its world  premiere 8th December 2011 in Amsterdam.

As Opera Director: Cosi fan tutte for WNO, premiered 20th May 2011 in Cardiff; Opera Scenes for RWCMD, which opened the new Richard Burton Theatre in Cardiff 17th June 2011; Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, and Gianni Schicchi for Opera Zuid, touring the Netherlands; Al Gran Sole Carico d’Amore as associate director with Katie Mitchell for the Salzburg Festival 2009; a mixed media staging of Britten’s song cycle Les Illuminations for Cardiff International Dance Festival with National Dance Company Wales; Il Tabarro and Star-Cross’d Lovers for WNO community tours; movement director for Jephtha at Royal Danish Opera.

As Revival Director: Hansel and Gretel, The Queen of Spades and Wozzeck (Richard Jones’ landmark, award-winning productions for WNO). Also most recently Gianni Schicchi for ROH as part of Jones’ production of Il Trittico conducted by Antonio Pappano. Further revival directing credits include Tosca and The Magic Flute for WNO and stagings of Rigoletto, La Traviata, Carmen and Jephtha at Birmingham Symphony Hall. Hansel and Gretel for Portland Opera, Oregon, which also inspired an exhibition by Portland Comicbook Artists made at the dress rehearsal.

                                       Il Tabarro - Opera Zuid

Top achievement at Opera Zuid

‘In Il Tabarro young director Ben Davis is showing his top qualities, in Suor Angelica he exceeds himself.’

                    De Gaykrant, December 2007

                                     Suor Angelica - Opera Zuid

Opera Zuid takes ‘Il Trittico’ beautifully seriously

‘Davis’ naturalistic approach was convincing. He kept pace with the music. When Puccini gets more dramatic, he had very strong pictures like the entrance of the ice-cold and the heartless aunt of Angelica...Dutch soprano Francis van Broekhuizen surprised friend and foe with a scorching and heart-breaking interpretation of pitiful Sister Angelica.’

                    Trouw, November 19, 2007

                                  Gianni Schicchi - Opera Zuid

                                                  

‘The final piece Gianni Schicchi, in which the inheritance of a rich man is being redivided accompanied by genial frolicking sounds, turned into a bitter carnivalesque farce in the direction of young Brit Ben Davis.’

                    De Volkskrant, November 19, 2007

♥♥♥♥ Tranen van ontroering én plezier bij ‘Trittico’ van Opera Zuid

(Tears of emotion and pleasure at ‘Il Trittico’)

                    I♥THTR website, December 06, 2007

WOZZECK (2009 revival)

‘I haven't the space to do justice to Welsh National Opera's revival of Richard Jones' production of Berg's Wozzeck, but it's stunningly good, and I do urge anyone with a serious interest in opera not to miss it. The staging is arrestingly imaginative and immaculately executed...’

(5 stars The Telegraph)

‘The revival director, Benjamin Davis, and the music director, Lothar Koenigs, tenaciously stick to Jones’s template, with pacing and gestures quickly paced, sharply sculptured and darkly witty.’

(4 stars The Times)

‘It is a staging that demands to be seen. This season, beans means Wozzeck’

(5 stars The Guardian)

‘This production was WNO’s first outing at their new home in Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre in 2005. Then, I thought the performance could hardly be bettered but it turns out that I was wrong: this revival brings both the music and the production’s message even more vividly to life... a tribute both to revival director Benjamin Davis and his singer - actors’

(Seen and Heard, UK Opera Review)