American stage director Alison Moritz has quickly garnered a reputation for her innovative interpretations of the classic repertoire and her equally incisive takes on contemporary opera. Alison has been praised for her “edgy, teeth-grinding style” by the New York Observer, and her recent projects have been lauded as “raw, funny, surreal, and disarmingly human” and “elegantly sexy” by Opera News and as “enchantingly cheeky” by the Washington Post.
Alison’s upcoming 2022-2023 season includes a landmark celebratory 50th Anniversary performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS at the Kennedy Center, as well as house directing debuts at Edmonton Opera (Tosca), Palm Beach Opera (Madama Butterfly), Atlanta Opera (Candide), Cincinnati Opera (Vrebalov’s The Knock) and a return to Austin Opera (Les pecheurs de perles). In autumn 2022, Alison makes her debut as a television director with the experimental Everything for Dawn, a ten-episode opera series airing on WNET and All Arts.
Recent projects include mainstage directing debuts at Washington National Opera (Cosi fan tutte), Opera Colorado (La Traviata), Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Opera Omaha (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Ravinia (Candide), and Portland Opera (Uyeda’s When the Sun Comes Out) She also made her first foray into the world of VR directing Miranda (Sankaram/Reese; co-produced by LUMA Projection Festival.
Committed to contemporary American repertoire, Alison has directed several world premieres including Proving Up (Mazzoli/Vavrek; Washington National Opera), Taking Up Serpents (Sankaram/Dye; Washington National Opera), The Knock (Vrebalov/Brevoort; Glimmerglass), and Chunky in Heat (Experiments in Opera, NYC). Her production of Kevin Puts/Mark Campbell’s The Manchurian Candidate was nominated for seven Austin Critic’s Table awards and won four, including Best Production. She has also workshopped pieces by David Hertzberg and Rene Orth for Opera Philadelphia, has served on a number of panels and consortiums advocating for composers and librettists, and her multidisciplinary works include projects in film and Virtual Reality.
Alison’s additional professional credits include directing engagements New Orleans Opera Association, Madison Opera, Central City Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara. She has also served on the directing staff at Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. She continues her ongoing collaborations with innovative orchestras The Knights and Contemporaneous and her affiliation with the Kurt Weill Foundation. She holds a B.A. in Music and Art History from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.M. from Eastman School of Music.
