Biography

Ken Cazan, resident stage director is one of America’s most popular, controversial, and sought after opera-theatre stage directors and acting teachers. Since winning the Outstanding Director Award from the prestigious San Francisco Opera Merola Opera Program in 1982, he has directed more than 140 productions of operas, musical theatre, and legitimate theatre in the United States, Canada, Italy, and Mexico. Career highlights include directing the recent world premiere of Lowell Liebermann’s and J.D. McClatchy’s Miss Lonelyhearts in New York City, and the American opera house premieres of Britten’s Gloriana, Mozart’s Midridate, Re Di Ponto, and Handel’s Agrippina. In Italy, he directed the Gershwins’ Lady, Be Good! for Teatro la Fenice in Venice which marked the first time an Italian opera house had staged an original production of an American musical. The production was broadcast internationally by RAI television. In Rome, he collaborated on La Boheme with Leonard Bernstein, which was recorded and released on Deutsche Grammaphon and also broadcast across Europe. His work has been featured on national television in the U.S. and Canada as well. Most recently, Cazan directed the Long Beach Opera’s production of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, the Chicago area premier of Britten’s rarely seen Owen Wingrave, and Sondheim’s A Little Night Music for the Central City Opera. He also wrote the book and lyrics for a new musical with composer Billy Pace titled Prodigy, which received readings in 2009 for the Los Angeles Festival of New American Musicals. Upcoming projects include Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers in Central City, a revival of his production of West Side Story for the Vancouver Opera, Albert Herring for Chicago Opera Theatre, and a new play by Paul Sand titled Possible Dangerous Side Effects.


Video Interviews with Ken Cazan:
About Ken Cazan
Staging an Opera
Being a Custodian of the Opera Tradition
Teaching Singers to Act
Staging Operas in Modern Contexts
How to Enter the World of Opera
Opera Directors Ken Cazan Admires
Source of Creative Energy
Appeal of Opera in the Original Language

Professional Experience

Current Professional Affiliation(s):
see biography

Academic Degrees

• BFA, Acting/Directing/Dance, Syracuse University, 1979