TIMOTHY NELSON

Timothy Nelson is active as a director and designer in both North America and Europe. Most recently Nelson directed "L'Incoronazione di Poppea" and “Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria” at London's Barbican Hall for the Academy of Ancient Music, “Un Ballo in Maschera” for Iford Arts Festival, and "Les Pêcheurs de Perles" for the Nationale Riesopera, where he is a frequent guest and has also directed and designed production of “The Lighthouse” and “La Nozze di Figaro”. Other work includes productions of “Rigoletto” and “Madama Butterfly” for Sardinia's Festival Ente Concerti, “Aureliano in Palmira” for the famed Festivale della Valle d'Itria in Martina Franca, “Riders to the Sea” for Amsterdam's Grachtenfestival, “Dido and Aeneas” and Vivier's “Love Songs” for the Rotterdam Opera Days, “La Voix Humaine” for the Residentie Orkest of the Hague, “Giulio Cesare” for Opera London, and European touring productions of “Where the Wild Things Are” and “L'Enfant et les Sortileges” for the Dutch National Opera and NJO. From 2002-2012 he served as Artistic Director of American Opera Theater, directing and designing a diverse body of productions including baroque masterpieces “Messiah”, “La Calisto”, “Jephtha” , the American premiers of “La Didone” and “David et Jonathas” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and a national tour of his acclaimed circus production of “Acis and Galatea”, called by the New York Times “The Future of Opera”. The company also presented Phillip Glass' “Hydrogen Jukebox”, a new version of “Carmen” inspired by Peter Brook's version, and said by the Washington Post to have “out-Brooked Brook”, and an original Kurt Weill work entitled “Songspiel” with two-time Grammy winner Sylvia McNair.

Nelson served as Artistic Director of the Netherlands Opera Studio where he directed and designed productions of “Don Giovanni”, “La Boheme”, “Pelleas et Melisande”, “La Calisto”, and “The Rape of Lucretia”. He is also Artsitic Director of the Accademia Europea dell'Opera where he has directed and designed “Les Dialogues des Carmelites”, “Die Zauberflote”, “Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria”, “Cosi fan Tutte”, and “Alcina”; as well as a regular guest director and designer at the Center for Opera Studies in Italy, having created productions of “La Clemenza di Tito” and “L'Incoronazione di Poppea”. Other guest credits include Bard College, Georgetown University, Indiana University, Oberlin College, Royal Hague Conservatory, and Peabody Conservatory.

Nelson was an awardee in the Opera Europa Directing Prize, and was also awarded Belgium's Goude Meeuw for his production of Sondheim's “Merrily We Roll Along” in Bruges (director and designer). Upcoming projects include “Orphee et Eurydice" for Opera Grand Rapids, “The Lighthouse” for Budapest's Armel Festival, “The Fairy Queen” for Iford Arts Festiva, and Stradella's “San Giovanni Battista” as an international co-production.