Sir David Pountney CBE became internationally known through his production of Káťa Kabanová atthe 1972 Wexford Festival. Between 1975 and 1980, he was Director of Productions for Scottish Opera. Productions there featured a Janáček cycle in collaboration with Welsh National Opera. He directed the world premiere of David Blake’s Toussaint in 1977 (ENO) and went on to become ENO’s Director of Productions in 1980, directing over 20 operas, and took a leading part in making ENO a powerful engine of radical theatrical experiment. He has directed over 20 world premieres, including three by Peter Maxwell Davies for which he also wrote the libretto, and has translated operas into English from Russian, Czech, German, and Italian. He continues to be an enthusiastic libretto writer. As a freelance director recent work includes Masque of Might – a compilation of Purcell’s music premiered at Opera North, Penderecki’s The Black Mask in Warsaw, and Smetana’s Dalibor in Brno. Future projects include Mazeppa at Grange Park and Káťa Kabanová for Santa Fe.
From 2011 to 2019, David was Artistic Director of Welsh National Opera where he directed Berg’s Lulu, Rossini’s Guillaume Tell, Mosè in Egitto, Pelléas et Mélisande, In Parenthesis (world premiere), Elena Langer’s opera Figaro gets a Divorce (world premiere), and a Verdi trilogy. He has worked regularly in Zurich, at the Vienna State Opera, Bayerische Sta- atsoper as well as opera houses in America and Japan.
He received a Janáček medal for his Janáček cycle in Wales and Scotland, and a Martinů medal for his productions of Julietta and Greek Passion (Opera North and Bregenz Festival). His productions have twice won an Olivier award. Sir David was knighted for services to Opera in 2019, he is a CBE, a Chevalier in the French Ordre des Arts et Let- tres, has the Cavalier’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland and was awarded the Ehrenkreuz des Bundes Oesterreich in 2014. Sir David was also awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and Cardiff University in recognition of his contribution as an artist and cultural leader and an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Philharmonic Society, an honour shared with Verdi, Wagner and Sondheim.
(photo: Richard Hubert Smith)
