Baritone Chandler Benn joins The Cafritz Young Artists of Washington National Opera for his first season in 2025-2026. With WNO he sings Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, The Pilot in The Little Prince, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible, and Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief. Chandler spent the summer of 2025 with Wolf Trap Opera, where he performed The Jailor in Dialogues of the Carmelites, covered Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and covered Morales/Le Dancaïre in Carmen. Chandler was a Master’s student at Indiana University, where he premiered the role of Joe Kavalier in The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay in the co-production between the Metropolitan Opera and the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Also at IU, he sang the role of Danilo Danilovich in The Merry Widow, and performed in workshops as Count di Luna (Il Trovatore), Macbeth (Macbeth), Giorgio Germont (La Traviata), Silvio (Pagliacci), and Alfonse (La favorite). During his undergraduate studies at UW Stevens Point, Chandler performed the titular roles in Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro, Bob in The Old Maid and the Thief, and Frank in Die Fledermaus. Also at UWSP, Chandler performed Johannes Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem.

While at UWSP, Chandler was a running back with the UWSP Pointers football team and completed a degree in Business. Outside of singing, Chandler breeds reptiles and loves to read high fantasy, so much so that he has Elvish tattoos on his arm.