Award-winning Stage Director, Scott Skiba serves as Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Opera Theater where he has directed: La Traviata, Madama Butterfly, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tosca, La Rondine, Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, Pagliacci and The Threepenny Opera. Other notable credits: Roméo et Juliette (Pensacola Opera), Macbeth (Opera Tampa), The Ballad of Baby Doe (Toledo Opera), Faust and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Natchez Festival of Music), The Student Prince (Opera Grand Rapids), Carmen (Opera Western Reserve), Suor Angelica and La Bohème (Mobile Opera), Don Giovanni (Hawaii Performing Arts Festival).
A proponent of new opera, Scott’s initiatives launched {NOW} Fest, Cleveland Opera Theater’s annual event to create, develop, and produce new opera, and he serves on the Chamber Opera Composition Committee for the National Opera Association. Scott’s work includes interdisciplinary collaborations in alternative venues to promote civic engagement and gateways to develop new audiences, such as: the professional premiere of Sweets By Kate (Marble City Opera) performed in Sugar Mama’s Bakery in Downtown Knoxville; The New Opera Project – development and world premiere of Six Micro-Operas in collaboration with Interlochen Arts Academy, Parallel 45 Theatre Company and Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan; and the iLyric project: an installation of nine different operas throughout the historic piazze of Arezzo in collaboration with the ICASTICA Festival.
An advocate of arts education, Scott has guest directed La Finta Giardiniera (University of Tennessee Opera Theater), Carmen (University of Texas Rio Grand Valley) and Tobermory, Trouble in Tahiti, and Roman Fever (Oberlin Opera Theater). Scott serves as Director of Opera Studies for Baldwin Wallace Conservatory whose spring 2017 production of Dialogues of the Carmelites won first place in the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Competition, and Movement-Acting Instructor for the Cornish American Song Institute. Previous appointments include: Executive Director of the Oberlin in Italy opera training program; Instructor of Voice and Opera Theater, Interlochen Arts Academy; and Associate Instructor of Voice, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Upcoming: La Bohème (Cleveland Opera Theater) and Don Giovanni (Indianapolis Opera) More info: www.ScottSkiba.com
