Artists’ Profiles

Benjamin Manis

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Conductor

Conductor Benjamin Manis will join the Utah Symphony as Associate Conductor in September 2022. Manis just completed his third season as Resident Conductor of the Houston Grand Opera (HGO), and returns to Houston to conduct Tosca and El Milagro del Recuerdo in the 2022–23 season. He made his HGO debut with Verdi’s Rigoletto, and this season conducted Carmen, Roméo et Juliette, and The Snowy Day.

Manis was winner of the 2019 Solti Foundation US Career Assistance Award, as well as the Richard S. Weinert Award from Concert Artists Guild. He has served as cover conductor for the St. Louis, Dallas, and National Symphonies, working with conductors David Robertson, Stéphane Denève, and Gianandrea Noseda. After three years in the Aspen Conducting Academy, Manis returned to Aspen in the summer of 2021 as Assistant Conductor, where he conducted two programs with the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

Benjamin Manis studied cello and conducting at the Colburn School, and in 2019 he completed his Master of Music degree at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

LaKisha Jones

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Vocalist

Best known to millions of TV viewers as a top four finalist during the 2007 season of American Idol, LaKisha Jones is ready to reclaim center stage in music, theatre, and television.

Having worked with hit-making songwriters and producers including Tony Nicholas (Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross), Ro & Sauce (Brandy, Ne-Yo) and Greg Curtis (Keyshia Cole, Yolanda Adams), Jones’ album featured a spirited mix of R&B and soul. A few noteworthy songs included the single “Same Song,” penned by award-winning songwriter Diane Warren, Whitney Houston’s “You Give Good Love,” the gospel song “Just As I Am,” and Jones’ soaring ballad to her daughter, “Beautiful Girl.”

A frequent soloist with symphonies around the world, Jones has performed as a guest soloist with the National Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Utah Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Evansville Philharmonic, Jacksonville Symphony, Minnesota Orchestra, Houston Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, Winnipeg Symphony, Windham Chamber Singers, Grand Rapids Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Calgary Symphony, Battle Creek Symphony, Reno Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, Long Bay Symphony, and the Festival Cesky Krumlov in the Czech Republic.

Carleton Bluford

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Narrator

Carleton Bluford played Riff Raff in The Rocky Horror Show, Graffiti Pete in Pioneer Theatre Company’s In The Heights, and Joshua Moore in Pioneer’s reading of An Alabama Story. Bluford has previously appeared in Plan-B’s Wallace, Slam and The Third Crossing which was nominated for three Arty Awards in Salt Lake City Weekly. Other acting credits include Jesus Christ Superstar (Park City’s Egyptian Theatre), Ragtime (Hale Center Theatre), The Overwhelming (Salt Lake Acting Company), Ruined (People Productions), and Civil War with Merrill Osmond (Hale Centre Theatre). Recent film credits include Saints and Soldiers: The Void, Stop Pepper Palmer (Best Supporting Actor, WorldFest Houston); The Step Sister; and most recently, the remake of Saturday’s Warrior. As a playwright, his play Breathe was read as part of the Utah AIDS Foundation/Plan-B Aids Plays and his play Niggah was read as part of the Edward Lewis Black Theatre Festival. Mama was his first full-length production at Plan-B. He is excited to be returning to Salt Lake Acting Company for Streetlight Woodpecker.