Benjamin Hewat-Craw - Baritone

Benjamin Hewat-Craw (Baritone) grew up in Dorset and as a child sang in the Sherborne Abbey Choir. While studying at Durham University, he studied with Baritone Richard Morrison and took part twice in the Samling Academy in Newcastle.



From 2015-2018, Benjamin studied at the conservatoire in Cologne, Germany, with Christoph Prégardien, one of the leading Lieder singers of his generation. He now studies with Lioba Braun and receives regular guidance from Josef Loibl. He also receives tuition in the field of Lieder from Götz Payer and Professor Ulrich Eisenlohr and vocal coaching from Semyon Rozin and Benjamin Schneider from Staatstheater Wiesbaden. Benjamin has had successful masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Roderick Williams, and Caroline Dowdle of the Royal Opera House’s Jette Parker Young Artists' Programme.



In the field of oratorio, Benjamin has a rich amount of experience with a repertoire ranging from Purcell to Pärt and has been featured as a soloist in the cathedrals of Durham and St. Paul’s, London as well as the Benedictine Abbey of Maria Laach and many local churches in and around the cities of Cologne, Bonn and Düsseldorf. He has a particular passion for the music of J.S. Bach and regularly performs his cantatas for church services.



Benjamin is a keen performer of both German and English Art Song. In November 2017 he had the honour of performing in the Beethoven House Recital Hall to a sold out audience. He has a particular focus on the song cycles of Schumann and Schubert and is performing his first Winterreise in September 2018. In the field of English Art Song, Benjamin has a particular love of the composers Ralph Vaughan-Williams and Gerald Finzi, whose cycles he has performed a number of times in both Germany and the UK.



On the opera stage Benjamin has also sung the role of Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Junius (The Rape of Lucretia), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Corydon und Winter (The Faerie Queene by Purcell), Capellio (I Capuleti e i Montecchi by Bellini), and Cascada (Die Lustige Witwe). He has sung in many opera houses including Oper Köln, Theater Bonn and Staatstheater Mainz.