Benjamin Velez

Benjamin Velez is an American composer and lyricist.

Velez was born in Miami, Florida.

Velez joined the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop in 2010, where he developed multiple projects, including Afterland, Starblasters, and Borderline.

He is a graduate of Columbia University where he studied film and wrote the 114th annual Varsity Show.

With book writer and co-lyricist Katie Hathaway, Velez developed Afterland at the Yale Institute for Music Theater (2014), the York Theater (2016), and as a part of several concert series in New York City, including Cutting Edge Composers and a One Night Stand at Ars Nova (2018).

Starblasters had a reading at Dixon Place in 2018.

Velez wrote the score for Borderline, an original musical created with book writer Aryanna Garber, which won the 2018 Weston Playhouse New Musical Award and opened the 2019 O’Neill National Musical Theater Conference.

Velez wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics (with David Kamp) for Kiss My Aztec, a new musical from John Leguizamo directed by Tony Taccone.

It was developed at the Public Theater and premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theater and La Jolla Playhouse in 2019, where it received critical acclaim.

Kiss My Aztec had its East Coast premiere at Hartford Stage in 2022.

In 2023, Velez was commissioned by the Public Theater to write a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest for its Public Works program, directed by Laurie Woolery.

It premiered in August 2023 at Shakespeare in the Park and was the final production at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park before its planned 18-month renovation.

The production starred Renée Elise Goldsberry as Prospero and was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.