Mary Birnbaum
Mary Birnbaum is a stage director, educator, and artistic leader, whose direction has been praised by the New York Times as “viscerally overwhelming” (The Rape of Lucretia at Juilliard) and “genuinely insightful…vibrant” (The Classical Style at Carnegie Hall.) Mary has directed her own productions of classic operas both internationally, from Taiwan (Otello) to Central America (L’elisir d’amore and La bohème) and across the U.S. (Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York Philharmonic, amongst others). She is an avid director of new music theater, and production of Christopher Cerrone & Stephanie Fleischmann’s In a Grove was hailed as “the highlight of the Prototype Festival” and NYTimes Best of Classical 2025. At Opera Saratoga, where she has served as General and Artistic Director since 2023, Mary directed Guys and Dolls, In a Grove, Happy End, My Fair Lady and a new adaptation of La Vie parisienne. As an educator, Mary teaches at The Juilliard School, where she has been on faculty since 2011, and coaches at the Lindemann program at The Metropolitan Opera. As an artistic leader, Mary was named a “Top Professional of 2025” by Musical America.
