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 work has been praised for her “edgy, teeth-grinding style” by the New York Observer, and her recent projects have been lauded “enchantingly cheeky” (Washington Post), “elegantly sexy,” and “raw, funny, surreal, and disarmingly human” (Opera News).
Alison’s ambitious 2022-2023 season includes 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). Alison also leads news stagings at Austin Opera (Les pêcheurs de perles), Palm Beach Opera (Madama Butterfly), and at Edmonton Opera (Tosca). 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, to be rereleased by Opera Philadelphia in the spring of 2023.
Alison recently 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. Other recent projects include mainstage directing debuts at Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Omaha, Ravinia, and Portland Opera.
Committed to contemporary American repertoire, Alison has 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, has served on a number of panels and consortiums advocating for composers and librettists, and her multidisciplinary works include projects in film and Virtual Reality.
Alison’s additional professional credits include directing engagements New Orleans Opera Association, Madison Opera, Central City Opera, and Opera Santa Barbara. She has also served on the directing staff at Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, and Wolf Trap Opera. She continues her ongoing collaborations with innovative orchestras The Knights and Contemporaneous and her affiliation with the Kurt Weill Foundation. 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.