Bodo Igesz (February 7, 1935 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

– December 25, 2014 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

) was a Dutch

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

who had an active career staging

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

s around the world during the second half of the 20th century. He was particularly known for his work with the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is operat ...

where he worked for 25 years on the staging staff. He also staged operas for the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

, and staged numerous operas for the

Santa Fe Opera Santa Fe Opera (SFO) is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe, New Mexico. After creating the ''Opera Association of New Mexico'' in 1956, its founding director, John Crosby, oversaw the building of the first opera house on a newl ...

; including the United States premieres of Hindemith's ''

Cardillac ''Cardillac'', Op. 39, is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on characters from the short story '' Das Fräulein von Scuderi'' by E. T. A. Hoffmann. Performance history The first ...

'' (1967), Schoenberg's ''

Die Jakobsleiter ''Die Jakobsleiter'' (''Jacob's Ladder'') is an oratorio by Arnold Schoenberg that marks his transition from a contextual or free atonality to the twelve-tone technique anticipated in the oratorio's use of hexachords. Though ultimately unfinish ...

'' (1968), Henze's ''

The Bassarids ''The Bassarids'' (in German: ') is an opera in one act and an intermezzo, with music by Hans Werner Henze to an English libretto by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, after Euripides's ''The Bacchae''. The conflict in the opera is between hum ...

'' (1968) and Aribert Reimann's ''

Melusine Mélusine () or Melusina is a figure of European folklore, a female spirit of fresh water in a holy well or river. She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a lamia or a mermaid). She is als ...

'' (1972). A particular triumph for Igesz at the Met was his staging of

Georges Bizet Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become ...

's ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the Opér ...

'' which premiered in 1972 with

Marilyn Horne Marilyn Horne (born January 16, 1934) is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer. She specialized in roles requiring beauty of tone, excellent breath support, and the ability to execute difficult coloratura passages. She is a recipient of the Nat ...

as the title heroine and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

conducting. The staging remained in the Met repertory for several years, and was notably the staging used for the first Met Carmens of

Régine Crespin Régine Crespin (23 February 1927 – 5 July 2007) was a French singer who had a major international career in opera and on the concert stage between 1950 and 1989. She started her career singing roles in the dramatic soprano and spinto soprano ...

(1975) and

Elena Obraztsova Elena Vasiliyevna Obraztsova ( rus, Еле́на Васи́льевна Образцо́ва, , ɪ̯ɪˈlʲenə vɐˈsʲilʲɪ̯ɪvnə ɐbrɐˈstsovə; 7 July 1939 – 12 January 2015) was a Soviet and Russian mezzo-soprano. She was awarded the P ...

(1978). Another Met career highlight was his 1988 staging of ''

Ariadne auf Naxos (''Ariadne on Naxos''), Opus number, Op. 60, is a 1912 opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. The opera's unusual combination of elements of low commedia dell'arte with those of high opera seria points up one o ...

'' by Richard Strauss which starred

Jessye Norman Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but refused to be limited to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...

Kathleen Battle Kathleen Deanna Battle (born August 13, 1948) is an American operatic soprano known for her distinctive vocal range and tone. Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, Battle initially became known for her work within the concert repertoire through performances ...

, James King,

Tatiana Troyanos Tatiana Troyanos (September 12, 1938 – August 21, 1993) was an American mezzo-soprano of Greek and German descent, remembered as "one of the defining singers of her generation" (''Boston Globe''). Her voice, "a paradoxical voice — large ...

, and Stephen Dickson. This production was Broadcast nationwide on the television program '' The Metropolitan Opera Presents'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of ed ...

References

External links

Interview with Bodo Igesz
by Bruce Duffie, February 13, 1988 {{DEFAULTSORT:Igesz, Bodo 1935 births 2014 deaths Dutch opera directors