Robert Carsen Director

Season 23/24 Artist – Season 24/25 Artist

Born in Canada, Robert Carsen studied acting at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, before choosing a career in stage direction, lighting design and scenography. 

Recent productions include Ariodante at the Paris Opera, Cabaret a the Lido2Paris, Aida at the Royal Opera House in London, Oedipus Rex in Syracuse, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno in Salzburg, Arabella in Zurich, Idomeneo in Madrid and Rome and Oceane in Berlin. He also directed for the Aix-en-Provence Festival A Midsummer Night's Dream, Orlando, The Magic Flute, Sémélé and Rigoletto; at the Opéra Comique, Platée and Les Fêtes vénitiennes; at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Armide, Iphigénie en Tauride and Orfeo ed Euridice; at the Théâtre du Châtelet, Candide, My Fair Lady and Singin’ in the Rain. 

Further credits include Falstaff and Der Rosenkavalier at the Royal Opera House, London and the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Dialogues des carmélites in Amsterdam, at La Scala in Milan and the Royal Opera House in London; Rinaldo and L’incoronazione di Poppea in Glyndebourne; La Traviata at La Fenice in Venice; Don Giovanni, Giulio Cesare, CO2 and La Fanciulla del West for La Scala, Milan; Ariadne auf Naxos in Munich; Mefistofele and Eugene Onegin at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Wagner's Ring cycle in Cologne, Venice, Barcelona and Madrid; Carmen and Pagliacci / Cavalleria rusticana in Amsterdam. 

He was artistic director and set designer on several exhibitions in Paris, London and Chicago. Officier des Arts et des Lettres, Robert Carsen received, in 2021, the International Opera Award, the Fanco Abbiati Prize, the Spanish Ópera XXI Award, and the Italian Opera Star Award.

This season, he notably directs Peter Grimes at La Scala in Milan, Werther at the Baden-Baden Festival, and La clemenza di Tito at the Salzburg Festival.

At the Paris Opera: Manon Lescaut, 1991 ; I Capuleti e i Montecchi, 1995 ; Nabucco, 1995 ; Lohengrin, 1996 ; Alcina, 1999 ; The Tales of Hoffmann, 2000 ; Rusalka, 2002 ; Les Boréades, 2003 ; Capriccio, 2004 ; Tannhäuser, 2007 ; Elektra, 2013 ; The Magic Flute, 2014 ; Ariodante, 2023.