Ben Bongers' voice has been hailed as "bright and free... a real powerhouse of sound!" by the San Francisco Chronicle, and “a free powerful tenor voice!" by the L.A. Times. Mr. Bongers has been engaged by companies around the world to appear in some of the most demanding tenor roles in the repertoire including Max in Der Freischütz, Canio in I Pagliacci, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Erik in Die Fliegender Holländer, Siegmund in Die Walküre, Siegfried in both Siegfried and Götterdamerung, the title role in Tannhäuser, and Don Josè in Carmen.
The San Francisco Chronicle said of both his Sigmund and Siegfried, “Bongers was duly boisterous, impulsive, and youthful, and he sang with pulse-quickening excitement---a true talent for the future.” He has sung over 45 roles with over 30 companies in the United States and Europe including San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Hachelheim Oper, Opèra Wisambeau, Chautauqua Opera, Nashville Opera, Utah Opera, Dayton Opera, Opera Delaware, Dierbach Oper, San Luis Obispo Opera, West Bay Opera, Berkeley Opera, West Edge Opera, San Francisco Lyric Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Columbus, and Anchorage Opera.
Mr. Bongers has done myriad concerts around the world including Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde; concert performances of Wagner's Parsifal, Tannhäuser, Siegfried and Götterdämmerung; and multiple performances of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, a work which he will be performing again in five performances over the next year in four different countries, and will also be singing for the first time in “The Egg” in Beijing, China this November. He made his Davies Hall debut as the tenor soloist in Verdi's Messa da Requiem; and became the first ever opera singer to sing a program with the prestigious San Francisco Ballet and Alaska Dance Theater.
In addition to the standard repertoire, Mr. Bongers has been a part of bringing over 15 world premieres to life and is currently working on two which are planned to be showcased later in 2013 and 2014. In 2011 he recorded Mark Northcross’ pivotal piece The Emerald Tablets of Hermes, and his voice has been captured on CD singing Mr. Butler, the jury foreman, in The Devil and Daniel Webster, which is available on the Newport Classics label.