This list of opera directors is a list of notable stage producers and directors who have worked, or are working, in the

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

world. * Christopher Alden (born 1949) *

David Alden David Alden (born 1949 in New York City) is a prolific theater and film director known for his post-modernist settings of opera. He is the twin brother of Christopher Alden, also an opera director in the revisionist mold. The two brothers have cove ...

(born 1949) *

Neil Armfield Neil Geoffrey Armfield (born 22 April 1955) is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera. Biography Born in Sydney, Armfield is the third and youngest son of Len, a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's Biscuits factory and Nita Armf ...

(born 1955) *

Lucy Bailey Lucy is an English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings are Luci, Luce, Luci ...

(born 1962) * Stephen Barlow (born 1969) * Ruth Berghaus (1927–1996) *

Anthony Besch Anthony John Elwyn Besch (5 February 1924 – 23 December 2002) was an English opera and theatre director. As a young man he worked at Glyndebourne assisting the directors Carl Ebert and Günther Rennert. His first work as an opera director was fo ...

(1924–2002) * Calixto Bieito (born 1963) * Saskia Boddeke (born 1962) * Luc Bondy (1948–2015) *

Tito Capobianco Tito Capobianco (28 August 1931 – 8 September 2018) was an Argentine American stage director and general manager of several opera companies. Early life Capobianco was born in La Plata, Argentina. His parents had fled from Fascist Italy in 1928 ...

(1931–2018) *

Albert Carré Albert Carré (born Strasbourg 22 June 1852, died Paris 12 December 1938) was a French theatre director, opera director, actor and librettist. He was the nephew of librettist Michel Carré (1821–1872) and cousin of cinema director Michel Carré ( ...

(1852–1938) * Robert Carsen (born 1954) * Patrice Chéreau (1944–2013) *

Martha Clarke Martha Clarke (born June 3, 1944) is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is ''The Garden of Earthly Delights'' (1984, re-im ...

(born 1944) * John Copley (born 1933) *

Frank Corsaro Frank Corsaro (December 22, 1924, New York City, New York – November 11, 2017, Suwanee, GeorgiaRobert ViagasNight of the Iguana Director Frank Corsaro Is Dead at 92/ref>) was one of America's foremost stage directors of opera and theatre. His Bro ...

(1924–2017) * John Cox (born 1935) * Paul Curran (born 1964) *

Willy Decker Willy Decker (born 1950) is a German theatre director, particularly known for his opera productions. He staged the world premieres of Hans Werner Henze's ''Pollicino'' (Montepulciano, 1980), Antonio Bibalo's ''Macbeth'' (Oslo, 1990), and Aribert ...

(born 1950) * John Dexter (1925–1990) *

Doris Dörrie Doris Dörrie (; born 26 May 1955) is a German film director, producer and author. Biography Born in Hanover, Dörrie completed her secondary education there in 1973. The same year, she began a two-year attendance in film studies in the drama de ...

(born 1955) * Carl Ebert (1887–1980) *

Peter Ebert Peter Ebert (6 April 1918, Frankfurt am Main, Germany – 25 December 2012, Sussex, England) was a German opera director. Son of noted German director Carl Ebert who left Nazi Germany in 1934 with his son and moved to England, he was best known ...

(1918–2012) *

Johannes Erath Johannes Erath (born 1975) is a German opera director. Career Erath was born in 1975 in Rottweil. First he studied violin with Rainer Küchl at der University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and with Hansheinz Schneeberger in Freiburg. He ...

(born 1975) * August Everding (1928–1999) * Brigitte Fassbaender (born 1939) * Walter Felsenstein (1901–1975) *

Jürgen Flimm Jürgen Flimm (born 17 July 1941, in Gießen) is a German theater and opera director, and theater manager. After establishing himself as one of the exponents of Regietheater, Flimm was called to manage renowned theaters and festivals. His operatic ...

(born 1941) *

Götz Friedrich Götz Friedrich (4 August 1930 in Naumburg, Germany – 12 December 2000 in Berlin, Germany) was a German opera and theatre director. He was a student and assistant of Walter Felsenstein at the Komische Oper Berlin in (East) Berlin, where he we ...

(1930–2000) *

John Fulljames John Fulljames (born 1976) is an English opera director who was the director of the Royal Danish Opera from 2017 to 2022. He was Associate Director of Opera at the British Royal Opera from 2011 to 2017. A Cambridge University graduate in Physics, ...

(born 1976) *

Colin Graham Colin Graham OBE (22 September 1931 in Hove, England – 6 April 2007 in St. Louis, Missouri) was a stage director of opera, theatre, and television. Graham was educated at Northaw School (Hertfordshire), Stowe School and RADA. Early in his ...

(1931–2007) *

Robin Guarino Robin Guarino (born April 3, 1960) is an opera and film director. She has directed operas such as ''The Marriage of Figaro'', ''Don Giovanni'', ''Lohengrin'', ''Così fan tutte'', and ''The Magic Flute'' at the Metropolitan Opera. She has directed ...

(born 1960) *

Tatjana Gürbaca Tatjana Gürbaca (born 1973, Berlin) is a German opera director. Early life Gürbaca was born in 1973 in Berlin, Germany to a Turkish father and an Italian mother. Career Gürbaca, frequently nominated by the journal 'Opernwelt' for her productio ...

(born 1973) * Peter Hall (1930–2018) *

Nicholas Heath Nicholas Heath (c. 1501–1578) was the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor. He previously served as Bishop of Worcester. Life Heath was born in London and graduated BA at Oxford in 1519. He then migrated to Christ's ...

(born 1959) * Bohumil Herlischka (1919–2006) *

Jens-Daniel Herzog Jens-Daniel Herzog (born 12 July 1964) is a German stage director for play and opera, and a theater manager. Career Jens-Daniel Herzog was born in Berlin, the son of the actor Peter Herzog. He studied Philosophy at the FU Berlin. From 1989 Her ...

(born 1964) *

Werner Herzog Werner Herzog (; born 5 September 1942) is a German film director, screenwriter, author, actor, and opera director, regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema. His films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with un ...

(born 1942) *

Kasper Holten Kasper Holten (born 29 March 1973) is a Danish stage director. From 2011 until 2017 he was Director of Opera for the Royal Opera House in London. He is Vice President of the Board of the European Academy of Music Theatre. Career Born in Copenhage ...

(born 1973) * Richard Jones (born 1953) *

Václav Kašlík Václav Kašlík (28 September 1917 – 4 June 1989) was a Czech composer, opera director and conductor, known for his operas, both on the stage and on television. Biography Kašlík was born in Poličná in Moravia, Austria-Hungary (now part of ...

(1917–1989) *

Peter Kazaras Peter Kazaras is an American stage director, artistic director and opera singer (tenor) from New York City. Career Kazaras holds an undergraduate degree in government. Before his career in opera, he worked in a law firm. He served as Artistic D ...

* Jonathan Kent (born 1951) *

Peter Konwitschny Peter Konwitschny (born 21 January 1945 in Frankfurt am Main) is a German opera and theatre director. Biography Peter Konwitschny grew up in Leipzig, where his father Franz Konwitschny was principal conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestr ...

(born 1945) * Barrie Kosky (born 1967) *

Constantine Koukias Constantine Koukias (born 14 October 1965) is a Tasmanian composer and opera director of Greek ancestry based in Amsterdam, where he is known by his Greek name of Konstantin Koukias. He is the co-founder and artistic director of IHOS Music Theatre ...

(born 1965) *

Harry Kupfer Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Felse ...

(1935–2019) *

John La Bouchardière John La Bouchardière is a British opera, film and television director. Biography La Bouchardière was a chorister at Magdalen College, Oxford, studied at the University of Birmingham and was a staff director at English National Opera. He also spe ...

(born 1969) *

Mark Lamos Mark Lamos (born March 10, 1946) is an American theatre and opera director, producer and actor. Under his direction, Hartford Stage won the 1989 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and he has been nominated for two other Tonys. He is n ...

(born 1946) *

Rhoda Levine Rhoda Levine is an opera director, choreographer, and a faculty member at several schools of music. Levine was born in New York, NY. She wrote the libretto for ''Opus Number Zoo'' by Luciano Berio and has also written children's books. She is the a ...

(born 20th century) * Phyllida Lloyd (born 1957) *

Lotfi Mansouri Lotfollah "Lotfi" Mansouri (15 June 1929 – 30 August 2013) was an Iranian-born opera director and manager. He was an opera director from about 1960 onwards, and is best known for being the General Director of the Canadian Opera Company and ...

(1929–2013) *

Ella Marchment Ella Marchment (born 30 May 1992) is a British opera director, artistic director, and an associate professor. She is a co-founder of the campaign charity SWAP'ra, Supporting Women and Parents in Opera, and the artistic director of Opera Festiva ...

(born 1992) *

Phelim McDermott Phelim McDermott (born 21 August 1963) is an English actor and stage director. He has directed plays and operas in Britain, Germany, Spain, the United States, and Australia. McDermott was a co-founder of the Improbable theatre in 1996. Career McD ...

(born 1963) *

David McVicar Sir David McVicar (born 1966) is a Scottish opera and theatre director. Biography McVicar was born in Glasgow in 1966. He studied as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1989. In 2007, ''The Independent'' ra ...

(born 1966) *

Friedrich Meyer-Oertel Friedrich Meyer-Oertel (3 April 1936 – 14 March 2021) was a German opera director. After positions at Staatstheater Mainz, Nationaltheater Mannheim, Opernhaus Wuppertal and Staatstheater Darmstadt, he was active as a freelance stage director. ...

(born 1936) * Dejan Miladinović (1948–2017) * Jonathan Miller (1934–2019) * Alexis Minotis (1899–1990) * Mark Morris (born 1956) *

Elijah Moshinsky Elijah Moshinsky (8 January 1946 – 14 January 2021) was an Australian opera director, theatre director and television director who worked for the Royal Opera House, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal National Theatre, and BBC Television, among o ...

(1946–2021) *

Francisco Negrin Francisco Negrin (born June 5, 1963)Federico Figueroa (Mexico City, October 2004) "Un mexicano en el mundo and contemporary music and his work in all media is characterised by a highly integrated use of dance and technology as part of the dramatur ...

(born 1963) *

Hans Neuenfels Hans Neuenfels (; 31 May 1941 – 6 February 2022) was a German writer, poet, film producer, librettist, theatre director, opera director and theatre manager. As a director, he first focused on drama, staged at prominent houses such as the Vien ...

(1941–2022) *

Moffatt Oxenbould Moffatt Benjamin Oxenbould (born 18 November 1943) is an Australian opera director. The Sydney-born Oxenbould was Artistic Director of Opera Australia from 1984 until his retirement in 1999. He had been part of the company since he graduated fro ...

(born 1943) *

Àlex Ollé Àlex Ollé (; born 1960) is one of the six artistic directors of La Fura dels Baus. Prominent works from its early period include ''Accions'' (1984), ''Suz/O/Suz'' (1985), ''Tier Mon'' (1988), ''Noun'' (1990) and ''MTM'' (1994), which establis ...

(born 1960) * Richard Pearlman (1938–2006) *

Laurent Pelly Laurent Pelly (born 14 January 1962 in Paris) is a French opera and theatre director. He enjoys a career as one of France's most sought after directors of both theatre and opera, working regularly in the world's most prestigious houses. Biograp ...

(born 1962) *

Pier Luigi Pizzi Pier Luigi Pizzi (born 15 June 1930) is an Italian opera director, set and costume designer. Biography Pizzi was born in Milan, Italy, and earned a degree in architecture at the Politecnico of Milan. Against the will of his skeptical father, he ...

(born 1930) *

Boris Pokrovsky Boris Alexandrovich Pokrovsky (Russian: Борис Александрович Покровский; 23 January 19125 June 2009) was a Russian opera director, best known as the stage director of the Bolshoi Theatre between 1943 and 1982. Early lif ...

(1912–2009) * Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (1932–1988) *

David Pountney Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ...

(born 1947) *

Olivier Py Olivier Py (; born 24 July 1965 in Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes) is a French stage director, actor and writer. Career In 1997, Py became director of the Centre dramatique national d'Orléans. In 2007, he became director of the Théâtre de l'Odéon ...

(born 1965) *

Lamberto Puggelli Lamberto Puggelli (1938 – 11 August 2013) was an Italian stage and opera director. Born in Milan, in 1958 Puggelli graduated at the Accademia dei filodrammatici in Milan, then in the early sixties he began his career as a theater director f ...

(1938–2013) *

Max Reinhardt Max Reinhardt (; born Maximilian Goldmann; 9 September 1873 – 30 October 1943) was an Austrian-born Theatre director, theatre and film director, theater manager, intendant, and theatrical producer. With his innovative stage productions, he i ...

(1873–1943) * Günther Rennert (1911–1978) * Rocc (born 1979) *

Luca Ronconi Luca Ronconi (8 March 1933 – 21 February 2015) was an Italian actor, theater director, and opera director. Biography Ronconi was born in Sousse, Tunisia. After growing up in Tunisia, where his mother was a school teacher, Ronconi graduated ...

(1933–2015) *

Vladimir Rosing Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing (russian: Владимир Серге́евич Розинг) (November 24, 1963), also known as Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in the United ...

(1890–1963) *

Peter Sellars Peter Sellars (born September 27, 1957) is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays. Sellars is professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where ...

(born 1957) * Otto Schenk (born 1930) *

Oscar Fritz Schuh Oscar Fritz Schuh (15 January 1904 – 22 October 1984) was a German-Austrian opera director, theatre director and opera manager. He is known for directing Mozart operas at the Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival in productions that tour ...

(1904–1984) *

Daniel Slater Daniel Slater (born 20 April 1966) is a British theatre and opera director. Biography Slater was born in London. He did his undergraduate degree at Bristol University and went on to do a PhD at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. * ''The Bartere ...

(born 1966) *

Jacopo Spirei Jacopo Spirei (born 1974) is an Italian opera stage director. He is the winner of the audience prize in Salzburg for best production of the season 2012/2013 at the Salzburger Landestheater. Biography Born in Rome raised in Florence, after class ...

(born 1974) *

Giorgio Strehler Giorgio Strehler (; ; 14 August 1921 – 25 December 1997) was an actor, Italian opera and theatre director. Biography Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste; His father, Bruno Strehler, was a native of Trieste with family roots in Vienna and died ...

(1921–1997) * Olivier Tambosi (born 1963) *

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...

(1932–1986) *

Mihai Timofti Mihai Timofti - Master of Arts (born September 19, 1948) is a director, actor, musician and professor from Chisinau, Moldova. In 1965 he started his activity in the popular theatre "Contemporanul" (Art Director was the playwright Mr G.Timofte) ...

(born 1948) * Mariusz Treliński (born 1962) *

Graham Vick Sir Graham Vick (30 December 1953 – 17 July 2021) was an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and was artistic d ...

(1953–2021) * Luchino Visconti (1906–1976) *

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

(1813–1883) * Wieland Wagner (1917–1966) *

Wolfgang Wagner Wolfgang Wagner (30 August 191921 March 2010) was a German opera director. He is best known as the director (Festspielleiter) of the Bayreuth Festival, a position he initially assumed alongside his brother Wieland in 1951 until the latter's ...

(1919–2010) *

Margarete Wallmann Margarete Wallmann or Wallman (aka Margarethe Wallmann, Margherita Wallman or Margarita Wallmann) (22 June or July 1901 or 1904 – 2 May 1992) was a ballerina, choreographer, stage designer, and opera director. Life and career Born probably ...

(1904–1992) * Krzysztof Warlikowski (born 1962) *

Deborah Warner Deborah Warner (born 12 May 1959) is a British director of theatre and opera, known for her interpretations of the works of Shakespeare, Bertolt Brecht, Benjamin Britten and Henrik Ibsen. Early life Warner was born in Oxfordshire, England, to ...

(born 1959) *

Keith Warner Keith Warner (born 6 December 1956) is a British opera director, designer and translator. He is noted for his flamboyant stagings of Richard Wagner's operas. Early years Warner was born in London and went to Woodhouse School in Finchley, North Lon ...

(born 1956) *

Herbert Wernicke Herbert Wernicke (24 March 1946 – 16 April 2002) was a German opera director and a set and costume designer. He was born in Auggen, Baden-Württemberg. He studied piano, flute, and directing at the conservatory in Braunschweig and set design at t ...

(1946–2002) * Robert Wilson (born 1941) *

Francesca Zambello Francesca Zambello (born August 24, 1956) is an American opera and theatre director. She serves as director of Glimmerglass Festival and the Washington National Opera. Early life and education Born in New York City, Zambello lived in Europe when ...

(born 1956) *

Franco Zeffirelli Gian Franco Corsi Zeffirelli (12 February 1923 – 15 June 2019), was an Italian stage and film director, producer, production designer and politician. He was one of the most significant opera and theatre directors of the post-World War II era, ...

(1923–2019) *

Tomer Zvulun Tomer Zvulun (born in 1976 in Israel) is an Israeli stage director. Since 2013 he is the General and Artistic Director of Atlanta Opera. Life and career Zvulun was born in Israel. He was a medic during his military service in the Israeli army. ...

(born 1976)

Sources

Sadie Stanley Sadie Anne Stanley (born November 15, 2001) is an American actress and singer, who began her career as the titular role in the 2019 Disney Channel original movie, '' Kim Possible''. She is also known for her recurring role as Brea Bee on '' Th ...

(ed.) (1998), '' The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'', London: Macmillan. and *

Warrack, John John Hamilton Warrack (born 1928, in London) is an English music critic, writer on music, and oboist. Warrack is the son of Scottish conductor and composer Guy Warrack. He was educated at Winchester College (1941-6) and then at the Royal College o ...

; Ewan West (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera''. New York & London: Oxford University Press {{Portal bar, Opera Directors

Opera Directors Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...