|
 "Smart and sassy and slick – that's the kind of Cosi fan tutte staged this past weekend by (John Bowen for) Granite State Opera…Rarely have I heard such sustained laughter from an audience throughout an opera, comic or otherwise" Jeff Rapsis for Hippo Press, May 15, 2008
"Opera Vivente, marking its 10th season, has hit an impressive mark with this affectionate staging (of Jonathan Dove's Tobias and Angel), directed imaginatively and sensitively by John Bowen" The Baltimore Sun, March 1, 2008
"In March, Baltimore's Opera Vivente tackled Claudio Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland in a thoughtful updating by director John Bowen that kept the plot's mythological elements from looking at all out of place" The Baltimore Sun, June 19, 2007
John Bowen brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table as a stage director. He also brings a most unique and valuable perspective to opera as the General Director of Opera Vivente, a regional opera company located in Baltimore, Maryland. John brings experience in working with not only patrons and sponsors, but with board members, staff, and cast members. This offers an opera company a valuable ally when building and staging a production; something many times lacking when a director takes the reigns of a production. Having an experienced expert at the helm of an opera, someone that supports the restraints a company must put in place to insure financial and artistic success, makes the entire process a more satisfying and financially rewarding experience.
With an extensive resume John has directed operas that span some four centuries beginning with Monteverdi's The Return of Ulysses to his Homeland and culminating with the North American premiere of Jonathan Dove's Tobias and the Angel. Additional credits include Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and The Turn of the Screw, Purcell's Dido and Aeneas, Massent's Werther, Mozart's Cosi fan tutte and La finta giardiniera, Hoiby's The Scarf, Menotti's The Medium and Amahl and the Night Visitors, Debussy's Pelléas and Mélisande, Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Handel's Alcina, Agrippina, and Tamburlaine, Mollicone's The Face on the Barroom Floor, Puccini's Le villi, Copland's The Tender Land, Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri, Verdi's Rigoletto, and Stravinsky's Marva and Renard.
John offers another valuable asset to a company; the ability to write new singing translations for operas. He has written such translations for Cosi fan tutte, Agrippina, Le villi, Alcina, La finta giardiniera, Apollo and Dafne, Pyramus and Thisbe, and Orpheus in the Underworld.
His many directing duties for Opera AACC include Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance, Semtna's The Bartered Bride, Lehár's The Merry Widow, Menotti's The Telephone, Barber's A Hand of Bridge, and Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti. John has directed La Boheme for the Lancaster Opera Company, several world premiers for Peabody Opera Theater, Handel's Apollo and Dafne and Monteclair's Pyramus and Thisbe for ARTSCAPE, and Don Giovanni for Opera Vivente.
Back to Conductors & Directors
|
