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Lotfi Mansouri (USA)
With productions seen at opera houses throughout the world, Lotfi Mansouri has been at the forefront of international opera directors and administrators for decades. After 14 years at the helm of the San Francisco Opera (1988-2001), Mansouri is now General Director Emeritus. In his 40-year association with that company he directed over 60 productions. Born in Iran, Mansouri attended university at UCLA and received U.S. citizenship before serving as resident stage director at the Zurich Opera from 1960 to 1966. In 1966, he became head stage director of the Grande Theatre de Geneve. During this period in Geneva, he began his international career, directing productions at various houses in Europe and North America, including La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper and Volksoper, Venice, Rome, Naples, Chicago, Santa Fe, Houston, and both the Metroplitan and New York City opera companies. In 1976, he was named general director of the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, where he directed 30 new productions, 12 of them Canadian premieres, including Wozzeck, Lulu, Death in Venice, Die Meistersinger and Thomas’s Hamlet (featuring the only Ophelia ever sung on stage by Joan Sutherland). While in Toronto, he established a young artist program, and was responsible for the development of surtitles, or “supertitles”, which are now used in opera houses throughout North America and Europe. (The first time titles were used in a staged opera production were for an Elektra in Toronto in 1983.) During his tenure at the San Francisco Opera, numerous international artists made their U.S. operatic debuts, and six productions were taped for telecast and videocassette, as well as its first commercial recordings. Mansouri established an historic exchange with the Kirov Opera that resulted in many productions, including War and Peace and Ruslan and Lyudmila – which he directed both in St. Petersburg and San Francisco. Under Mansouri’s direction, the San Francisco company began an ambitious program designed to maintain the vitality of the opera repertoire through new commissions and the presentation of rarely performed and unusual operas. Commissioned works include Dangerous Liaisons, Harvey Milk, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Dead Man Walking, which premiered during the 200/2001 season. Recent productions include Die Fledermaus and Simon Boccanegra for the San Diego Opera. Upcoming projects include a production of Wozzeck for the Canadian Opera Company and a project entitled Viardot & Friends, which will include concerts at Wigmore Hall in London and the Chatelet Theatre in Paris. [ top ] © Festival 500 Designed by AppleCore Interactive |
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