As a freelance director, Sir David Pountney CBE’s 2026–27 season includes La forza del destino with Tokyo Nikikai Opera Foundation; a return to Warsaw Chamber Opera for Masque of Might, a work conceived and created by him from the music of Henry Purcell; the world premiere of Alek Nowak’s The Book of Strange New Things at Teatr Wielki in Poznań, for which he has written the libretto, based on Michel Faber’s novel, and which he will also direct; and a return to Santa Fe Opera for a new production of Katya Kabanova.
The 2025–26 season included the world premiere of Dorian Gray, a new work by Elżbieta Sikora, with a libretto by Sir David, at Teatr Wielki in Poznań; a return of Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Passenger at Teatr Wielki – Polish National Opera in Warsaw; and a return to Grange Park Opera for the world premiere of John Tavener’s Krishna.
Highlights of the 2024–25 season included Black Mask at Teatr Wielki in Poznań, La forza del destino at Theater Bonn in Germany, and Mazeppa at Grange Park Opera.
Previous productions of note include Masque of Might for Opera North in Leeds, Dalibor at the Janáček Theatre in Brno, The Passenger at Teatro Real in Madrid, Opernatelier in Bregenz, A Masked Ball at Theater Bonn in Germany, The Cunning Little Vixen for Opera North in Leeds, Le nozze di Figaro at the Opera Națională in Bucharest, Rusalka for Santa Fe Opera in New Mexico, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Leipzig Opera in Germany, Figaro Gets a Divorce at Magdeburg Opera in Germany, and Le nozze di Figaro at the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv. Other major productions include The Passenger in Houston, New York and Chicago; Kommilitonen, his third opera written in collaboration with Peter Maxwell Davies, premiered at the Royal Academy of Music in London and later in the U.S. at the Juilliard School in New York; and Spuren der Verirrten by Philip Glass, created for the opening of the new opera house in Linz, Austria, and winner of the Schikaneder Prize for Best Opera Production in 2013. He also directed Die Zauberflöte for the lake stage in Bregenz, where he served as Intendant from 2003 to 2013.
Sir David became internationally recognised through his production of Katya Kabanova at the 1972 Wexford Festival in Ireland. From 1975 to 1980, he was Director of Productions at Scottish Opera in Glasgow, where he created a Janáček cycle in collaboration with Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. He directed the world premiere of David Blake’s Toussaint for English National Opera in London in 1977 and was appointed ENO’s Director of Productions in 1980, where he directed over 20 operas and played a leading role in establishing ENO as a powerful engine of radical theatrical experiment.
He has directed over 20 world premieres, including three operas by Peter Maxwell Davies for which he also wrote the libretti, and has translated operas into English from Russian, Czech, German and Italian. He continues to be an active opera director and librettist.
From 2011 to 2019, Sir David was Artistic Director of Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, where his productions included Berg’s Lulu, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Beethoven’s Fidelio and Boito’s Mefistofele, as well as the world premieres of In Parenthesis and Elena Langer’s Figaro Gets a Divorce. His production of La forza del destino launched a Verdi trilogy, and his final season featured Janáček’s Jenůfa.
August 2026
