Sir Julius Benedict (27 November 1804 – 5 June 1885) was a German-born composer and conductor, resident in England for most of his career.

In Naples his first opera, Giacinta ed Ernesto, premiered in 1827, and another, written for his native city, I Portoghesi in Goa, was given there in 1830; neither of these was a great success, and in 1834 he went to Paris, leaving it in 1835 at the suggestion of Maria Malibran for London, where he spent the remainder of his life.

In 1836 he was given the conductorship of an operatic enterprise at the Lyceum Theatre, and brought out a short opera, Un anno ed un giorno, previously given in Naples.

Benedict wrote recitatives for the production of an Italian-language version of Weber's Oberon in 1860 (it was then the tradition in England to perform German operas in Italian).

[1] His best-known opera, The Lily of Killarney, written on the subject of Dion Boucicault's play The Colleen Bawn to a libretto by John Oxenford, was produced at Covent Garden in 1862.

[9] A London County Council blue plaque commemorates Benedict at 2 Manchester Square, Marylebone, where he lived and died.