Richard Gregson
Richard Gregson (director, Berenice, Partenope, Alcina, Admeto, Orlando, Serse, Tamerlano) first worked at Covent Garden over forty years ago, and the House has been his main workplace since then; he has revived many productions of both their familiar repertoire and more unusual pieces, including La Bohème, Otello, L'Africaine, and Der Freischütz. He started his theatrical work in Salisbury Rep., but has since specialised in opera as a director. He has worked at Covent Garden and elsewhere in other theatrical capacities, and now calls himself a 'freelance opera director and educator'. Past work has included Britten's Church Parables at the Helsinki Festival, Salome in Pittsburgh, Otello in Leningrad (the first performances there in Italian since the Revolution), Royal Opera tours to Milan, the Far East, and the 1984 Olympics, Un ballo in maschera and La Bohème in Genoa, Les contes d'Hoffmann in Venice, and numerous revivals in the U.K. In 1993, for the Cambridge Handel Opera Group, he directed the first complete performances of Handel's Berenice since the composer's lifetime, with great success, and later in the year Handel's Siroe for the London Handel Society. His collaboration with CHOG continued with Partenope (1995), Alcina (1997), Admeto (1999), Orlando (2001), and Serse (2003). Also in 1999 he directed Handel's 1731 version of Rinaldo. In 1996 he directed Madame Butterfly in Seville, and in 1999 Otello in Madrid with José Cura. In 2000 and 2004 he revived Les contes d'Hoffmann to great acclaim at Covent Garden. Earlier this year he directed La Bohème in Korea. His education work includes lecture weekends, the Canford Summer School of Music, and productions for young people. In 1998 he helped direct a specially written musical based on Seven Brides for Seven Brothers for young people in Delhi. In 2002 he directed a new children's opera, The Adventures of Badir Basim, in Slough.