Bio
Sarah Meyers is a NY based stage director, author and scholar who enjoys questioning how, where and what opera should be. Most recently, she directed the 2023 world premiere of Gregg Kallor’s new operatic adaptation of Frankenstein at Arizona Opera, in a production Broadway World called “a showcase of virtuosic excellence” and a “bold feat of stage design, engineering and atmospherics.” This premiere represented the culmination of an extensive collaboration between Kallor and Meyers, which began when she directed his monodrama, The Tell-Tale Heart, in 2016. That highly praised production was originally created for The Crypt Sessions in collaboration with On Site Opera. The NY Observer’s James Jorden declared the “starkly simple production” to be “one of the most effective stagings I’ve seen.” Kallor then entrusted Meyers to direct Frankenstein as excerpted scenes when it was first presented as part of the Angel’s Share performance series in 2018. That production took place in the catacombs of Green-Wood Cemetery and received rave reviews. It was declared one of WQXR’s standout performances of 2018. Operawire described the performance as “riveting … an extraordinary experience” and Limelight extolled Meyers’s direction as “perfectly finessed…. Powerful and meticulous.”
As her work with Kallor demonstrates, Meyers is passionate about the development and performance of contemporary opera and music drama. She directed Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied for Berkshire Opera Festival in 2021 to enthusiastic acclaim. Her 2014 production of the new opera Gallo by Ken Ueno was hailed as “one of Guerilla Opera’s best” and highly praised by the Boston Globe for its inventiveness and “striking tableaux.” She also served as the associate director to Julie Taymor for Elliot Goldenthal's Grendel at LA Opera and the Lincoln Center Festival. She assisted Francesca Zambello on the premier of Rachel Portman's The Little Prince, and directed the production in several revivals, including San Francisco Opera, Lithuania National Opera, and New York City Opera. She regularly directs the genre-defying show, That's Not Tango, by Lesley Karsten and Stephen Wadsworth, which interweaves a narrative of the life of Astor Piazzolla with his music.
Additional highlights of her career include a new staging of Die Walküre for New Orleans Opera which featured a cinematic installation by filmmaker Samantha Aldana, and a unique production of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde in 2013 called “enchanting” by NY Times reviewer Anthony Tommasini. The opera was produced by the Music School of Lighthouse International in conjunction with Arts at the Park, and featured a cast which combined visually impaired and sighted performers. She made her international directing debut in 2019, with a new production of Rigoletto in Seoul. Other directorial credits include The Elixir Of Love for Curtis Opera Theatre, Tosca for Chautauqua Opera Company, and Dido and Aeneas for the Juilliard School of Music. She has been on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera since 2006, where she has directed revival productions of Julie Taymor’s Magic Flute, Michael Mayer's La Traviata, and John Dexter’s iconic production of Dialogues des Carmélites.
Meyers is an enthusiastic educator and has directed and taught for companies including Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard, Aspen Opera Theater Center, and Wolf Trap Opera. She has a BA from Harvard University in Music and Philosophy, and a PhD in Theatre from Columbia University, where she wrote her dissertation on the experience of the uncanny in contemporary performance. She is also the author of a new translation and adaptation of Die Fledermaus, which debuted with Boston University's Tanglewood Institute in 2016, in a production she also directed. The adaptation was performed by MassOpera in April, 2019. ArtsFuse declared the translation to be “a major feat… blow[s] the dust off a creaky antique.”
Beginning in January 2024, Ms. Meyers is thrilled to be joining On Site Opera as their new Artistic Director.
Photo Credit: Robert Adam Mayer