Heppner, Ben (1956– )

Canadian tenor. He sang in operas by Mozart and Rossini at Toronto and re-emerged as a dramatic tenor at Melbourne in 1988, as Bacchus. In Chicago the same year he was Wagner's Walther, and in 1992 he returned as McTeague in the first performance of Bolcom's opera. He made his European debut at Stockholm in 1989, as Lohengrin, and in 1990 sang Walther at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, and at La Scala, Milan. He sang Strauss's Emperor at Amsterdam in 1991. His recordings include Walther in Die Meistersinger von Nürnburg/The Mastersingers of Nuremburg under Sawallisch in 1994.