Garnett Bruce stages Turandot for the opening of the San Francisco Opera's 2011/2012 season as well as for the inaugural production for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City's Kaufmann Performing Arts Center. He will return to the Dallas Opera to stage Lucia di Lammermoor, followed by The Rake's Progress for Peabody Opera Theater, Don Pasquale for Opera Memphis, and his production of La Cenerentola for Madison Opera. Last season he directed La Traviata for Austin Lyric Opera and Madison Opera, and continued his Da Ponte Cycle with Don Giovanni for Opera Omaha and continued his work as teacher and director at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University with a double bill of Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tiresias and Ravel’s L'enfant et les sortileges. Mr. Bruce’s rich body of work includes companies across the country such as Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Cincinnati Opera and Utah Symphony & Opera and his European opera debut staging Turandot for the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He was the Artistic Adviser and Principal Stage Director for Opera Omaha from 2008-2011.
Born in Washington, DC, Mr Bruce was a choirboy at Washington National Cathedral where he made his operatic debut in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He holds degrees in English and Drama from Tufts University and has also guest directed on the faculty of Yale University and Westminster Choir College. Initial internships with Harold Prince (Faust, Metropolitan Opera) and Leonard Bernstein (performances and recording of Candide) led to stage management positions at The Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera and Opera Colorado and assistant director assignments at The Dallas Opera and Houston Grand Opera, where he assisted (among others) Francesca Zambello, John Copley, Bruce Beresford, David Alden, Michael Blakemore, Harry Silverstein and Anne-Margret Pettersson.
Bruce currently serves on the directing faculties of the Aspen Music Festival and Peabody Conservatory as well as the board of directors for FBN Productions (Opera for Kids).
Photograph by Dale Heise