Conductor Benjamin Manis joined the Houston Grand Opera as Resident Conductor in September, 2019. In May of 2019 he completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where he studied with Larry Rachleff. Ben has served as cover conductor for the St. Louis and Dallas Symphonies, working with conductors David Robertson and Stéphane Denève, and was winner of the 2019 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award. Ben returned to the Aspen Music Festival for the third consecutive summer in 2019, and will appear in Aspen again next summer as the winner of the Aspen Conducting Prize. Before moving to Houston, he studied cello and conducting at the Colburn School, where he conducted outreach concerts in public schools across Los Angeles and performed Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto as soloist with conductor Robert Spano.