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Jeannette Aster (born 1948) is an Austrian-born opera director who has staged productions in Canada, where she was raised and educated, and internationally.


Life and career

Born in
Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital ...
, Austria, Jeannette Aster was brought up and educated in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Trained initially as a classical dancer, she obtained her BMus in Voice Performance from McGill University before going on to study Opera Production at the London Opera Centre in London, England. After serving 5 years as a staff director in the
Netherlands Opera The Dutch National Opera (DNO; formerly De Nederlandse Opera, now De Nationale Opera in Dutch) is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Dutch National Opera & Ballet housed in the Stopera building, ...
,
Hamburg State Opera The Hamburg State Opera (in German: Staatsoper Hamburg) is a German opera company based in Hamburg. Its theatre is near the square of Gänsemarkt. Since 2015, the current ''Intendant'' of the company is Georges Delnon, and the current ''Genera ...
and the
Deutsche Oper Berlin The Deutsche Oper Berlin is a German opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. The resident building is the country's second largest opera house (after Munich's) and also home to the Berlin State Ballet. Since 2004, the D ...
, Aster made her Canadian debut as stage director in 1977 at the National Arts Centre Festival in Ottawa with Mozart's ''Magic Flute'', returning the following season to direct ''Cosi fan tutte''. She began working with the Canadian Opera Company in 1972. In 1979 together with General Director Lotfi Mansouri, and his associate John Leberg, she helped found the COC Ensemble (Young Artist programme) and in 1980 became its first resident director. In 1986, at the invitation of Peter Hemmings, she joined the newly formed Los Angeles Music Center Opera as a founding Associate Director and resident stage director. From 1988 to 1998 Aster was Artistic Director of
Opera Lyra Ottawa Opera Lyra Ottawa (OLO) was a non-profit professional opera company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1984 by Canadian soprano Diana Gilchrist after the demise of the National Arts Centre's annual summer opera productions. The com ...
. In addition to presenting mainstage opera productions at the National Arts Centre, Aster commissioned 3 new operas, instituted a comprehensive training programme which included a boys' choir, teen chorus and Associate Artist Studio, and community-based education projects for adults and young people. Between 1999 and 2008 Aster has been Artistic Consultant and Director of Productions for Eurostage, a private opera producer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, which developed new opera productions in collaboration with the State Operas and National theatres in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova and Russia for touring throughout Western Europe. Her productions of ''Madama Butterfly'', ''Don Giovanni'', ''Rigoletto'', ''Lucia de Lammermoor'', and ''La Traviata'' have been presented in theatres in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Switzerland and England. Aster works internationally as an opera consultant and free-lance stage director. She has produced Verdi's ''Falstaff'' in Los Angeles, ''Otello'' with Plácido Domingo in Los Angeles and Houston (after which Domingo invited her to direct this opera in Puerto Rico). Her staging of ''Tristan und Isolde'', designed by
David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...
, at the Maggio Musicale in Florence won the 1990 International Critics Prize. Other international engagements include the European Premiere of Sir Michael Tippett's ''New Year'' at
Glyndebourne Glyndebourne () is an English country house, the site of an opera house that, since 1934, has been the venue for the annual Glyndebourne Festival Opera. The house, located near Lewes in East Sussex, England, is thought to be about six hundre ...
and a revival of ''Katya Kabanova'' in Paris. She produced ''Salome'' at the Lyric Opera Chicago, Washington Opera, San Francisco Opera, Detroit, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and the Hong Kong Festival. Aster produced ''The Marriage of Figaro'' in New Zealand, later directing ''La Bohème'' and ''Les Contes de Hoffmann''. Aster regularly teaches masterclasses in operatic role study and dramatic interpretation in many opera studios and conservatories around the world . She also sits on the juries of numerous international voice competitions. Since 2001 she has been General Director of La Roche D'Hys - Domaine des Arts, an international centre for cultural encounters and professional development in Burgundy, France. Its programmes include workshops, masterclasses, seminars, exhibitions, conferences, and artists' residency retreats in all the arts disciplines as well as the presentation of concerts, theatrical and literary events.Académie La Roche D'Hys
Programs
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References

*
Opera Cleveland Cleveland Opera Cleveland Opera was incorporated by David Bamberger, Carola Bamberger, and John D. Heavenrich in March 1976 and presented its first season in October and November of that year with sold-out productions of Puccini's ''Madama Butterf ...

Opera Cleveland Raises The Curtain On A New Era
March 19, 2007


External links

*La Roche D'Hys - Domaine Des Arts
Biography of Jeannette Aster
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aster, Jeannette McGill University School of Music alumni Austrian opera directors Living people Canadian opera directors Female opera directors 1948 births