Opera Director
Background
Opera Directing
Encounter with Opera
About
Born in Tokyo to German parents, Julia grew up in Milan, Prague, Munich, Bonn, London and Hong Kong. Her interest in performance and directing developed early, inspired by an actress, chanson-singer mother and an operatic baritone grandfather. Alongside her studies, she attended performing arts school with a focus on dance and started directing and choreographing whilst at University College London, from where she holds a BA in History and History of Art as well as an MSc in International Public Policy. After working at the United Nations in Paris, she decided to return to London to focus fully on a directing career.
Opera directing credits include; Alcina (Theater Wuppertal), L'elisir d'amore ( State Opera Prague), Eugene Onegin ( Theater Lübeck), Der singende Teufel (Theater Bonn), Manon Lescaut (Theater Kiel), Siegfried and Götterdämmerung (Hackney Empire, London), Eugene Onegin (Opera Holland Park), La bohème (Theater Bielefeld), Edmea ( Wexford Opera Festival), L'amico Fritz ( Opera Holland Park), Das Wundertheater ( Badisches Staatstheater Karslruhe), Semele (Shanghai International Arts Festival), Die Walküre (Opéra National de Bordeaux), Das Rheingold and Die Walküre (Grimeborn Festival/ Nomination for 2020 and 2021 OFFIE), The Rape of Lucretia (Grimeborn Festival/ Winner of 2019 OFFIE), Tosca (Grimeborn Festival and Celebrate Voice Festival, Salisbury), Madama Butterfly (Grimeborn Festival and Bury Court Opera), The Fairy Queen (Bury Court Opera and Kiez Oper at Wilde Renate, Berlin) and Il trionfo del tempo ( Kiez Opera at Alte Münze, Berlin). Recent work as a revival director includes La sonnambula (Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona), Tristan und Isolde, Ariadne auf Naxos, Il trovatore, La bohème, Carmen, Cosi fan tutte and Otello (Royal Opera House, London and on Japan Tour), Die Frau ohne Schatten (Staatsoper unter den Linden, Berlin) and La bohème and Don Giovanni ( Teatro Real, Madrid).
She was nominated in the category 'Best Newcomer' at the 2019 International Opera Awards.
Opera Directing
Encounter with Opera
Julia’s first encounter with opera was as an observer for Christof Loy on the production of The Bassarids at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. She then joined Christof Loy as an assistant director and later revival director for productions such as Lulu (ROH),Tristan und Isolde (ROH, Houston Grand Opera), L’incoronazione di Poppea (Deutsche Oper am Rhein), Prinz von Homburg (Theater an der Wien) and Ariadne auf Naxos (ROH). While Christof Loy remains her greatest influence, Julia has since worked with many other directors at numerous houses and international festivals. Most regularly she works at the Royal Opera House, where she was a resident Staff Director from 2015 to 2021. In September 2021 she joined the board of the BYO ( British Youth Opera) as a trustee.
Before focusing on opera, Julia completed a short course at NFTS film school in London and worked in theatre, dance and film. She directed a variety of plays as well as pieces of new writing and worked as a choreographer and movement director, taking her to many of London’s Fringe and West End theatres as well as the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. In film she worked for Norma Heyman, directed shorts and small documentaries and worked as a production assistant. All these experiences influence her work and style as an opera director.
Before Opera
International Opera Awards 2019
Best Newcomer (Director) - Nomination
We bring the female perspective, but we also bring our personal perspective. It is not as easy as saying, every woman director is this and every man is that; I don't believe in that at all. I think it is much more complicated. It is always very personal of course, your gender, your history and your experiences play into all of that...
Operawire
We bring the female perspective, but we also bring our personal perspective. It is not as easy as saying, every woman director is this and every man is that; I don't believe in that at all. I think it is much more complicated. It is always very personal of course, your gender, your history and your experiences play into all of that.
