The New York Times:
“One of our more ambitious and effective younger directors.”
— 2016
“…this is a “Rodelinda” worthy of a multiyear commitment to Handel.”
— 2023
“…a gift for drawing out vivid performances.
— 2014
“…a rare American opera director whose innovative stateside work has attracted international attention.”
— 2023
“Avant-garde opera for the people…" — New Yorker Magazine
What People Are Saying
“…so radical, so modern.”
— Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 2019
“…a brilliant reversal of expectations.”
— Los Angeles Times, 2018
“Widely recognized as one of the most ambitious, creative, strong, end edgy opera directors working today.”
— WAMC Radio, 2017
“R.B. Schlather’s production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte was the revelation of this Santa Fe Opera season …modern, disturbing, and riveting.”
— Wall Street Journal, 2019
“R.B. Schlather could cause an operatic revolution.”
— Huffington Post, 2015
“R.B. Schlather proved himself first as a comedian with Cimarosa, then in Madama Butterfly almost as a clinical psychiatrist.”
— OpernWelt, 2022
“It was as deeply moving and disturbing an opera performance as I’ve heard this season, thanks to a subtle but devastating staging by director R.B. Schlather.”
— Observer, 2016
“Schlather is oriented towards the work, not adapting the work to himself. Precisely for this reason he can produce something quite idiosyncratic, original.”
— Frankfurter Rundschau, 2021
R.B. Schlather is an American artist and opera director, associated with immersive installations and unconventional stagings that push the boundaries of traditional operatic performance. His work has been praised for challenging conventional norms, and for creating new and engaging experiences for audiences.
Recent highlights include a double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia for the Shepherd School of Music with conductor Ben Manis, and Handel’s Rodelinda (NYTimes critic’s pick 2023) commissioned by the Hudson Opera House in Hudson, NY. This is the first in a series of Handel productions Schlather is producing for the historic building in collaboration with the early music band Ruckus. And it continues his interest in exploring the composer’s theater works in alternative spaces. Alcina (2014) and Orlando (2015) were both conceptualized and presented as open process art installations in galleries on the Lower East Side (New York Times: “a fascinating species of performance art,” “a valuable project that deserves enthusiastic support,” “a gift given to the NY cultural scene”). Ariodante (2016) was initially presented an open process salon during his artist residency at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, and later in an artist’s workshop at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art during Opera Omaha’s 2018 ONE Festival. And in 2019, Schlather was invited by Bernd Loebe to make his European debut at Oper Frankfurt with Tamerlano. This immersive, site-specific production for the city’s Bockenheimer Depot warehouse was a critical success and audience favorite and was revived for their 2022/23 season.
Subsequent premieres for Oper Frankfurt’s main stage include Cimarosa’s L’Italiana in Londra (2021) conducted by Leo Hussain and released on Blu-Ray and DVD by Naxos, and Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (2021) conducted by Antonello Manacorda, and revived in the 2022/23 season. In 2023, Schlather’s work for Oper Frankfurt was recognized in a New York Times Arts and Leisure feature, profiling him as one of the American opera directors bringing “fresh visions to Europe’s opera stages.”
Other career highlights include Cosi fan tutte at The Santa Fe Opera conducted by Harry Bickett (“Revelation of the summer season” - Wall Street Journal), Fluxconcert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall with conductor Christopher Rountree (New Yorker Magazine Best Performances 2018), the world premiere of composer David Hertzberg’s The Wake World, conceived for The Barnes Foundation as part of the inaugural Opera Philadelphia O Festival (Best New Opera 2017 Music Critics Association of North America), John Adams’ Doctor Atomic at Curtis Opera Theater, Philip Glass’ Madrigal Opera at National Sawdust, Philip Glass’ In The Penal Colony at Boston Lyric Opera (New York Time’s Best Performances 2015), Salome at Fisher Center Bard with conductor Leon Botstein.
Schlather has directed performances for Oper Frankfurt, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gran Theatre del Liceu, National Sawdust, Fisher Center Bard, Tanglewood Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Wolf Trap Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, IlluminArts, and at the Perez Art Museum Miami, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bockenheimer Depot, Hudson Opera House, Bemis Center for the Arts, White Box Art Center, Boston Center for the Arts. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, San Francisco Classical Voice, Out Magazine, New Yorker Magazine, Huffington Post, Upstate Diary, I Care if you Listen, Clyde Fitch Report, VAN Magazine, WQXR Radio, and podcasts for Basilica Hudson and IndieOpera. He was an Artist-in-residence at National Sawdust for 2016/17 season, and an Emerging artist during Boston Lyric Opera’s 2014/15 season. He has taught at Curtis Institute of Music, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, The Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, and Ithaca College, where he received a BA in Art History and minor in drama. He is a member of AGMA, and is represented by Opus 3 Artists.