James Robinson
2008 Regional Judge

The stage director James Robinson is regarded as one of America’s most inventive and sought after directors. He has won wide acclaim for productions that range from the standard repertory to world premieres to seldom performed works, and he is considered the most widely performed director of opera in North America.

Last season James Robinson directed the world premiere of Daniel Catan’s SALSIPUEDES for the Houston Grand Opera, new productions of Adam’s Nixon In China for Opera Theatre of St. Louis and the Minnesota Opera and the Bernstein Mass for the London Symphony Orchestra with frequent collaborator Marin Alsop.

James Robinson has directed numerous new productions for the New York City Opera including Il Trittico, Il Viaggio a Reims, Lucia, Hansel and Gretel (co-produced with Los Angeles Opera) and the widely acclaimed La Boheme (broadcast on Public Television as part of “Live from Lincoln Center” in 2001). In 2002, he made his Houston Grand Opera debut with a new production of Abduction From The Serglio and followed up this production with La Boheme, Lucia a nd Giulio Cesare. He has directed new productions of ELEKTRA and NORMA for the Canadian Opera Company, The Rake’s Progress and Cosi Fan Tutte for the Santa Fe Opera, Carmen for the Seattle Opera, Antheil’s Transatlantic and Lucia for the Minnesota Opera, and Eugene Onegin for Boston Lyric Opera.

His production of Turandot, first produced for the Minnesota Opera in 1995 has been seen by more than twenty five companies in North America. James Robinson has also directed Katya Kabanova and Eugene Onegin for Opera Ireland, Norma for the Royal Swedish Opera, Handel’s Rinaldo for Opera Australia, Handel’s Radamisto and Dominick Argento’s Miss Havisham’s Fire for Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

Upcoming projects include new productions of Nabucco for Dallas Opera, Un Ballo In Maschera for Minnesota Opera and Boston Lyric Opera, Street Scene and Elisir D’amore for Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Don Pasquale and Nixon In China for Houston Grand Opera. Most recently, James has directed Norma for San Francisco Opera, Carmen in Denver and Il Viaggio Di Reims with New York City Opera.

Since 2000 James Robinson has been artistic director of Opera Colorado in Denver. In the fall of 2005 Opera Colorado moved into its new home, the Ellie Caulkins Opera House, and the company continues to gain wide recognition for its adventurous programming and artistic excellence.

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