Walter Sutcliffe (born 1976) is a British opera and theatre director. His work has been seen in the UK, US, Germany, Austria, The Czech Republic, Italy, France and Estonia, including productions of

Christopher Fry Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biograph ...

's ''

The Lady's Not for Burning ''The Lady's Not for Burning'' is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry. A romantic comedy in three acts, in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages ("1400, either more or less or exactly"). It reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following Worl ...

'',

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (, ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than sixty p ...

's '' The Great Highway'' and the Austrian premiere of

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

's ''

The Knot Garden ''The Knot Garden'' is the third opera by composer Michael Tippett for which he wrote the original English libretto. The work had its first performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 2 December 1970 conducted by Sir Colin Davis and pr ...

'' for the Klangbogen Festival in Vienna. He directed the American stage premiere of Leoš Janáček's first opera, '' Sarka'', for

Dicapo Opera Dicapo Opera Theatre was co-founded in 1981 by General Director Michael Capasso and Artistic Director Diane Martindale. It suspended operations in 2013. Programming and premieres Dicapo Opera Theatre’s presentations range from traditional re ...

, New York. In 2017 his new productions include Rigoletto in Santiago, Chile, Manon Lescaut in Osnabruck, and Eugen d'Albert's Tiefland in Toulouse. At the

Bockenheimer Depot The Bockenheimer Depot is a former tram depot and main workshop of the Straßenbahn Frankfurt am Main, built around 1900. It is located in the Bockenheim quarter of Frankfurt. A listed monument, it now serves as a theatre venue of the Städtisc ...

for

Frankfurt Opera The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Frede ...

, he directed the first production in Germany of

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's opera ''

Owen Wingrave ''Owen Wingrave'', Op. 85, is an opera in two acts with music by Benjamin Britten and libretto by Myfanwy Piper, after a short story by Henry James. It was originally written for televised performance. Britten had been aware of the story sin ...

'' in January 2010, and of Aribert Reimann's ''Gespenstersonate'' in January 2014. Also in Frankfurt he staged Antonio Cesti's ''L'Orontea'' in February 2015. He has directed among other works, such as Mozart's ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; Vienna (1788) title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanis ...

'' and Offenbach's ''

Orpheus in the Underworld ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' and ''Orpheus in Hell'' are English names for (), a comic opera with music by Jacques Offenbach and words by Hector Crémieux and Ludovic Halévy. It was first performed as a two-act " opéra bouffon" at the Thé� ...

'' for the opera in Osnabrück, Verdi's ''

Luisa Miller ''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller. Verdi's initial idea for ...

'' and ''

La Traviata ''La traviata'' (; ''The Fallen Woman'') is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on ''La Dame aux camélias'' (1852), a play by Alexandre Dumas ''fils'' adapted from his own 18 ...

'' in Braunschweig, ''Werther'' and ''Kiss Me Kate'' in Magdeburg, ''

Le Grand Macabre ''Le Grand Macabre'' (1974–1977, revised version 1996) is the only opera by Hungarian composer György Ligeti. The opera has two acts, and its libretto—based on the 1934 play ''La balade du grand macabre'' by Michel de Ghelderode—was wri ...

'' and ''Der Zwerg'' in Chemnitz, ''

Cosi fan tutte Cosi, COSI or CoSi may refer to: * ''Così'', a 1992 play by Louis Nowra ** ''Cosi'' (film), 1996, based on the play * Così (restaurant), an American fast-casual restaurant chain * Compton Spectrometer and Imager, or COSI, a NASA telescope to be ...

'' and ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

'' in Tallinn, Estonia, ''

Otello ''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887. Th ...

'' in Turin, ''Owen Wingrave'' and ''The Turn of the Screw'' in Toulouse, and ''Albert Herring'' in Linz. Sutcliffe studied the bassoon at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...

as well as history at Cambridge. His opera background might partly be attributed to the fact that his parents are the opera critic Tom Sutcliffe and the playwright and

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

Meredith Oakes Meredith Oakes (born 18 Sept 1946,) is an Australian playwright who has lived in London since 1970. She has written plays, adaptations, translations, opera texts and poems, and taught play-writing at Royal Holloway College and for the Arvon Found ...

References

*Emma Pomfrett, interview with Sutcliffe, ''Opera Now'' magazine, Nov/Dec 2008

External links

Walter Sutcliffe's official website
1976 births Living people British opera directors British theatre directors {{Theat-director-stub