About

Hailing from Rabat, Morocco, Abla Benz is currently recently graduated from the Juilliard

School of Music, where she studied with Darrell Babidge. She previously studied at

the École Normale de Musique Alfred Cortot with Daniel Ottevaere.

In the Fall of 2024, Abla made her role debut at Opera on the James as

Mimì in Puccini's La Bohème, followed by a performance as Suor Angelica

in Suor Angelica in the Spring of 2024. Her upcoming 2024/2025 season

includes covering the role of Madame Lidoine in Poulenc's Dialogues des

Carmélites and performing La Bergère/La Chouette in Ravel's L'Enfant et les

Sortilèges, conducted by Louis Langrée.

In July 2025, she sang Vitellia in Mozart’s La Clemenza di Tito at the Auditorium de Vincennes,

and in August 2025, she reprised the role at the Estivales Lyriques de Wissant, France

In Spring 2024, Abla was selected to perform alongside Brian Zeger for the

Juilliard Songfest, a project he both curated and coached. She also

participated in a collaborative project between Juilliard and the Sibelius

Academy, exploring both Nordic and American repertoires, with concerts

held in Helsinki and New York. Additionally, she performed a Liederabend

featuring songs by Duparc, curated by Pierre Vallet.

In Summer 2024, Abla was honored to be chosen by Dolora Zajick to join

the Dolora Zajick Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, where she

performed scenes from Hérodiade (Salomé) and Il Trovatore (Leonora). She

also covered the role of Leonora in Il Trovatore at the Spazio Musica

Festival in Orvieto, Italy.

In 2023, Abla made her debut as Suor Dolcina in Puccini's Suor Angelica at

the Juilliard School, and later that year, she performed the title role in Suor

Angelica at the Saluzzo Opera Festival in Italy.

Abla's previous role debuts include Micaela in Bizet's Carmen in 2022 and

Violetta Valéry in La Traviata in à workshop led by Dominique Rouits in

Spring 2021.