Award-winning Stage Director, Scott Skiba has led more than 60 new productions earning recognition for his imaginative stage direction, and dynamic physical approach to storytelling.  Scott serves as Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Opera Theater where he has directed: La Traviata (named the best professional opera production Cleveland has seen in years -Clevelandclassical.com) Madama Butterfly, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tosca, La Rondine, Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, Pagliacci and The Threepenny Opera.  Other notable directing credits include: Roméo et Juliette (Pensacola Opera), Macbeth (Opera Tampa), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Toledo Opera), Faust and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Natchez Festival of Music), The Student Prince (Opera Grand Rapids), Carmen (Opera Western Reserve), Suor Angelica and La Bohème (Mobile Opera), Don Giovanni and La Tragédie de Carmen (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival).

 

A proponent of new opera, Scott's initiatives launched {NOW} Fest, Cleveland Opera Theater's annual event to create, develop, and produce new opera, and he serves on the Chamber Opera Composition Committee for the National Opera Association.  Curious to explore contemporary approaches to producing opera, Scott's work includes directing and producing interdisciplinary collaborations in alternative venues to promote civic engagement and provide gateways to develop new audiences.  Such projects include: the professional premiere of Sweets By Kate (Marble City Opera) performed in Sugar Mama's Bakery in Downtown Knoxville; The New Opera Project - development and world premiere of Six Micro-Operas in collaboration with Interlochen Arts Academy, Parallel 45 Theatre Company and Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan; and the iLyric project - an installation of nine different operas throughout the historic piazze of Arezzo, Italy in collaboration with the ICASTICA Festival and the city of Arezzo, Italy.

 

An advocate of arts education, Scott serves as Director of Opera Studies for Baldwin Wallace Conservatory whose spring 2017 production of Dialogues of the Carmelites won first place in the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Competition, Assistant Artistic Director for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and Movement & Acting Instructor for Music Across the Pond (MAP).  Scott has guest-directed La Finta Giardiniera (University of Tennessee Opera Theater), Carmen (University of Texas Rio Grand Valley) and Tobermory, Trouble in Tahiti, and Roman Fever (Oberlin Opera Theater).  Previous appointments include: Executive Director of the Oberlin in Italy opera training program, Instructor of Voice and Opera Theater, Interlochen Arts Academy; Production Designer, East Carolina University Opera Theater, and Associate Instructor of Voice, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. 

 

Upcoming engagements include: The Cleveland premiere of Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire’s The Ghosts of Gatsby (National Opera Association / Baldwin Wallace),  World-premiere production of Griffin Candey and Caridad Svich’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba (Co-commission - CLE Opera Theater / BW ), a new adaptation of Pelléas et Mélisande (Baldwin Wallace Conservatory), Don Giovanni (Indianapolis Opera) and The Threepeny Opera (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival).  More info: www.ScottSkiba.com