ABOUT
MARC CALLAHAN
Riotously funny.
The scenario is slight but Marc Callahan’s riotously funny production plays Herring for all the laughs it is worth.
Albert Herring | Miami Music Festival
Marc Callahan is an award-winning stage director and designer working across opera, music theatre, and interdisciplinary performance. Recent and upcoming engagements include L’italiana in Algeri for Opera Las Vegas, Blood on the Dining Room Floor at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he is the 2027 Kulas Foundation Visiting Artist, Maya and the Magic Ring for Lyric Opera of Orange County, Rusalka for the Miami Music Festival, and Orpheus in the Underworld for Opera Chapman. His associate and assistant directing credits include the Royal Opera House, the Aldeburgh and Holland Festivals, Scottish Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, and Théâtre du Capitole.
Callahan is Director of Opera Chapman and the Robert and Norma Lineberger Endowed Chair in Music at Chapman University. His productions have received ten National Opera Association awards since 2017, including First Prizes for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Ordo Virtutum, and Der Jasager, alongside repeated recognition from The American Prize and the Charles Nelson Reilly Prize in Stage Direction. The Cure, on which he served as assistant director, was nominated for an International Opera Award following its world premiere at the Aldeburgh Festival and subsequent transfer to the Royal Opera House.
His repertory ranges from Monteverdi, Handel, and Rameau through Mozart, Rossini, Massenet, Dvořák, Ravel, and Britten to Sondheim, contemporary opera, and new commissions. Design is an integral part of his directing practice, and his work is shaped by a long-standing interest in movement, visual composition, and the physical life of performers onstage.
Callahan has trained in Nō since 2018 and Nihon Buyō since 2023. In 2026 he was awarded a Japan Foundation Research Fellowship for sixty days of study in Tokyo and Kyoto, including Kongō-school shimai with Udaka Tatsushige and Udaka Norishige. At the center of that work is a question that increasingly shapes his directing practice: where does individual artistry live within an inherited and lineage-transmitted movement vocabulary?
Callahan maintained an international career as a baritone, appearing at the Royal Opera House, Opéra Comique, Opéra National de Lyon, Opera North, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and Opéra Royale de Versailles. He has recorded for Virgin Classics, FRA Musica, Passavant, Newport Classic, Éditions d’Ambronay, and Radio France. That performance career continues to inform his rehearsal process, particularly his attention to musical phrasing, physical storytelling, and the relationship between voice and movement.
Callahan serves on the Board of Directors of the National Opera Association, as Vice President for Programs of NATS Los Angeles, and as Co-Chair of the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition.
"Growing up with extensive dance training and a profound love of design, I see the stage as a living canvas shaped by our bodies and the raw power of vulnerable storytelling."
"As an actor, I have spent the past eight years studying Noh and Nihon Buyō with my sensei in Kyoto, JP and Orange County, CA. My studies have deepened my understanding of the actor's inner harmonies and using the stage as an energy-charged playing field to depict our most subtly intimate stories."
Operas Directed
Again and Again and Again: Conrad Cummings and Mark Campbell
Albert Herring: Benjamin Britten
Alcina: G. F. Handel
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Will Todd
Approaching Ali: D.J. Sparr
Atlas: Meredith Monk
Blood on the Dining Room Floor: Sheffer
The Blue Forest: Louis Aubert
La cabine téléphonique: Arrieu
Cendrillon: Jules Massenet
L’enfant et les sortilèges: M. Ravel
From the Towers of the Moon: Robert Moran
Flight: Unwrapped: Jonathan Dove
Help, Help, the Globolinks!: G. C.Menotti
L’Incoronazione di Poppea: Monteverdi
Les Indes Galantes: J. P. Rameau
Der Jasager: Kurt Weill
Lohengrin: R. Wagner
Maya and the Magic Ring: Lori Laitman
The Marriage of Figaro: W. A. Mozart
A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Britten
Ordo Virtutum: Hildegard von Bingen
Orpheus in the Underworld: Offenbach
Rusalka: Antonin Dvorak
Il Sogno di Scipione: W. A. Mozart
The Telephone: Menotti
Die Zauberflöte: W. A. Mozart
AS ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
The Cure/The Corridor: H. Birtwistle (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden)
Dead Man Walking: Jake Heggie
Les Fiançailles au Couvent: S. Prokofiev (Théâtre du Capitole)
Flight: Jonathon Dove (Scottish Opera)
A Good Boy: Callahan, Harris, Layague (Composer/Producer)
Parade: Eric Satie and Pierre-Yves Macé (Théâtre du Châtelet)
La Vestale: Saverio Mercadante
Die Walküre: Wagner (New World Center)
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS
National Opera Association Award, First Prize, 2025
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2025
American Prize: First Prize, Opera Companies, 2025
American Prize: Second Prize, Opera Companies, 2025
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2024
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2024
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2023
National Opera Association Award, First Prize, 2022
American Prize for Virtual Performance, First Prize, 2022
The Charles Nelson Reilly Prize Winner, Third Prize, 2021
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2021
American Prize Finalist: Opera Companies, 2021
The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center NMTC, Finalist, 2021
The Charles Nelson Reilly Prize Winner, Honorable Mention, 2020
Winner of Outstanding Performance in As One, 2020
National Opera Association Award, First Prize, 2019
The Charles Nelson Reilly Prize, Finalist, 2019
National Opera Association Award, Second Prize, 2017
International Opera Awards, Nominee, 2016
Prix Lili Boulanger, Concours International de la Mélodie Française, FR
