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, opera director, producer, and designer associated witH immersive installations and unconventional stagings that push the boundaries of traditional operatic performance. His work has been praised for challenging norms and creating new and engaging experiences for audiences.
Praised by The New York Times as “one of our more ambitious and effective younger directors,” he has directed for Oper Frankfurt (Tamerlano, L’Italiana in Londra, Madama Butterfly, Macbeth), Santa Fe Opera (Così fan tutte), Los Angeles Philharmonic (Fluxconcert), Boston Lyric Opera (Philip Glass’ In the Penal Colony), Opera Philadelphia (The Wake World). His staging of The Mother of Us All at Hudson Opera House was named one of the best performances of 2017 by The New York Times. Upcoming engagements include new productions at Oper Frankfurt, the Santa Fe Opera, and Den Norske Opera & Ballett. Schlather is currently developing a Handel series at the historic Hudson Opera House.
Highlights include Vanessa (Williamstown Theater Festival, Heartbeat Opera), Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda with Ruckus Early Music (Hudson Opera House), Dido and Aeneas and The Rape of Lucretia (Shepherd School of Music), Der Freischütz and Philip Glass’ Juniper Tree (Wolf Trap Opera), John Adams’ Doctor Atomic (Curtis Opera Theater), Salome (Fisher Center Bard), Philip Glass’ Madrigal Opera (National Sawdust), the premiere of David Hertzberg’s The Rose Elf (Green-Wood Cemetery, The Death Of Classical), David Lang’s little match girl passion (Perez Museum Miami, IlluminArts), and Alcina (2014) and Orlando (2015) as open process installations in a storefront gallery in NYC’s Lower East Side.
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, Williamstown Theater Festival, Heartbeat Opera, Shepherd School of Music, 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 received a BA in Art History and minor in drama from Ithaca College. He is a member of AGMA, and is represented by Opus 3 Artists. His studio is at Foreland Catskill, and he lives in the Hudson Valley.