About the Director
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David Walsh
David Walsh, associate professor of opera, is the director of University Opera Theatre. After graduating in political science and economics, he studied theatre science at the University of Toronto. His career has taken him to such opera houses as the Paris Opera (Fidelio: Ozawa, Behrens, Vickers), the Royal Opera House, London, and the Netherlands Opera, Amsterdam. He has been a resident stage director with Scottish Opera, Frankfurt Opera, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. Walsh has directed opera in North America, Europe, China, Japan and Israel. With a professional career spanning more than twenty-five years and two continents, Walsh has successfully combined the artistic flair expected of a director and teacher with the organizational and management abilities required of an administrator. |
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Full Biography:
A native of Toronto, Canada, David Walsh graduated with Honors in Political Science and Economics before studying Theatre Science at the University of Toronto. Following a career as production stage manager with the Canadian Opera Company, Stratford Festival and Scottish Opera, he left the technical sphere to become assistant stage director with English Music Theatre. In 1978, he began a two-year assignment with the English National Opera as staff producer. From 1980 to 1984, he was under contract to Frankfurt Opera as assistant director. During this period, he was guest assistant director at Nederlandse Opera, Brussels Opera, the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) and Santa Fe Opera. From 1984 to 1987, Walsh served as assistant artistic director to Brian McMaster with Vancouver Opera. Walsh held the post of head of production for the Scottish Opera from 1987 to 1991.
As a stage director, Walsh has worked extensively in Germany. Great Britain, America and Canada. He has produced Fidelio for Paris Opera with Jon Vickers and Hildegard Behrens in the title roles and conducted by Seiji Ozawa (1982). This production was repeated triumphantly at English National Opera with Kathrin Harries as Leonore. For the Bad Hersfeld Festival in Germany, he has created highly acclaimed stagings of two Monteverdi operas— L'Incoronazione di Poppea (1982) and Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria (1983). Walsh has scored success with Don Giovanni and La Bohème for the Scottish Opera, Madame Butterfly for Opera Lyra (Ottawa), Salome for Calgary Opera, a stunning production of The Turn of the Screw for the Vancouver Opera and with an outstandingly intelligent and witty production of La Belle Helene for L'Opera Francais de New York.
In 1991 Walsh took charge of the newly constituted Opera Studio in Victoria, B.C. (Canada). In addition, he created an Opera Department at the Vancouver Academy of Music in relation to the Bachelor of Music Programme. Walsh has become a regular guest director at the University of Victoria Music and Theatre Departments, as well as the Banff Centre for the Arts.
In 1998 Walsh returned to Europe to undertake the post of Szenischer Studienleiter for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf. For this company he has directed Der Fliegende Hollander for a Gastpiel in Shanghai, China. He thus had the honor of directing the first-ever production of a Wagner opera in the history of China. In 1999 Walsh directed La Bohème for the company in Dusseldorf and this past season a new staging of Ariadne auf Naxos.
In January 2001 Walsh directed a highly successful revival of Palestrina (original production directed by Nikolaus Lehnhoff) for the Royal Opera House Convent Garden. In the spring of 2002 Walsh assisted Nikolaus Lehnhoff on a production of Puccini's Turandot at the Nederlandse Oper, which was filmed and included a new final scene composed by Luciano Berio. In 2003 Walsh again assisted Dr. Lehnoff in a new production of Beethoven's Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival conducted by Sir Simon Rattle with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Future directorial assignments over the next two years will take Walsh to Lyon, Dusseldorf, Tel Aviv and Tokyo.
In a professional career spanning more than twenty-five years and two continents, Walsh has successfully combined the artistic flair expected of a director and teacher with the organizational and management abilities required of an administrator.