Emily Bishai

Stage director Emily Bishai returns to Minnesota Opera for her second season as a Resident Artist. Her directing work for MNOP this past season included A Holiday Special – Live! and various film projects with fellow members of the Resident Artist Program, while also serving as assistant director for Opera in the Outfield, MNiatures, Art is a Verb, and Albert Herring. Previously based in the UK, Emily’s 2019-20 season included assisting on productions with Welsh National Opera and Royal Opera House Covent Garden prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Other recent directing work includes a new stage adaptation of The Soldier’s Tale (Stravinsky/Ramuz) for RWCMD REPCo/USW Dance and a contemporary double bill of Thea Musgrave’s Mary, Queen of Scots and Victoria Bond’s Mrs. President for the Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble.

In addition to her directing work, Emily is an active writer. A song cycle setting of her poetry by award-winning composer Derri Joseph Lewis, Cane fires from the cabin of a plane, will premiere at the 2021 Ludlow English Song Weekend. As a librettist, Emily made her debut with Spinning Jenny, a one-act opera premiered at the 2019 Atmospheres Festival in Cardiff.

Emily is an alumnus of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s David Seligman School where she received her MA with Distinction in Opera Directing. She holds a BA in Social Anthropology and Music from Harvard University and was previously a member of the Juilliard School’s Professional Apprentice Program.  In previous seasons, Emily has worked as a director with the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Cardiff Opera, Dell’Arte Opera Ensemble, Aspen Music Festival, Barrow Group Theatre, Boston Youth Symphony, Harvard Early Music Festival, and Harvard College Opera.  She has held administrative positions with the Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Houston Grand Opera.