Official Biography
American stage director Alison Moritz has quickly gained a reputation for her innovative interpretations of the classic repertoire and her equally incisive takes on contemporary music theatre.
Alison’s work focuses on using music as a prism for human emotion – as such, her recent projects have been lauded as “enchantingly cheeky” (Washington Post), “elegantly sexy,” and “raw, funny, surreal, and disarmingly human” (Opera News). Recently appointed as the Artistic Director of Central City Opera, Alison’s prowess as an artistic leader reflects her commitment to advancing the operatic form.
Alison’s current activities include directing new productions of Don Giovanni (Opera Philadelphia) and Fantastic Mr. Fox (Opera Omaha), as well as revisiting her award-winning staging of The Manchurian Candidate (Austin Opera). Future projects include a collaboration with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and original productions for Central City Opera.
In the past year, Alison has created new productions at the Glimmerglass Festival (Elizabeth Cree) and Cincinnati Opera (Don Giovanni) in addition to her work on the 2024 Santa Fe Apprentice Scenes. Alison’s ambitious 2022-2023 season included a landmark celebratory 50th Anniversary performance of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS at the Kennedy Center, as well as house debuts directing original productions at Cincinnati Opera (The Knock, world stage premiere), Wolf Trap Opera Company (Faust), and the Atlanta Opera (Candide). Other recent highlights include original productions for Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Ravinia, Tanglewood, Bard Music Festival, and Portland Opera.
Alison served as the Interim Managing Artistic Director of Opera at Peabody Conservatory during the 2021-2022 season, where she produced a season of mainstage opera and spearheaded the socially conscious “Opera in Action” initiative. She has also guest directed and taught at Juilliard, Eastman School of Music, Rice University, and Bard College. Her additional professional credits include directing engagements at Austin Opera, Palm Beach Opera, New Orleans Opera Association, Central City Opera, Opera Colorado, Madison Opera, Edmonton Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara.
Passionate about opera as a living art form, Alison has workshopped and 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 and her multidisciplinary works include projects in film and Virtual Reality. In fall 2022, Alison made her television directing debut with the experimental Everything for Dawn, a ten episode opera series airing on WNET and All Arts.
Alison has served on the directing staffs at Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. 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.