Mo Zhou
Chinese expatriate stage director Mo Zhou is an innovative force in opera and theater, celebrated for boundary-pushing productions that recontextualize the classical canon and early music for modern social relevance. Her international work spans major global stages, including the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, the Elbphilharmonie, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, alongside prominent North American companies such as Houston Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Minnesota Opera, Arizona Opera, and Opera Colorado.
In the 2026–27 season, Ms. Zhou directs Handel’s Ariodante at Minnesota Opera, stages Earth to Kenzie with Lyric Unlimited at Lyric Opera of Chicago, and continues as Acting Coach for the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio. Summer 2026 engagements include the Schwabacher Summer Concert for the Merola Opera Program and Grétry’s Zémire et Azor at the Berkshire Opera Festival.
During the 2025–26 season, Ms. Zhou served as Guest Artistic Director for Opera Grand Rapids, directing Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator and Madama Butterfly and programming a full season dedicated to AAPI Brilliance. She also made her company debut at Opera Colorado with Madama Butterfly. Her celebrated post-WWII–reimagined production has enjoyed successful runs across Calgary Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Florentine Opera, Virginia Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Vancouver Opera, dubbed by Opera Canada as a “hyper-relevant must-see.”
Other highlights include Iphigénie en Tauride with Boston Baroque, Rinaldo and Ariodante at Minnesota Opera, Così fan tutte at Juilliard, and La Calisto at Glimmerglass. An advocate for young artists, she has served on faculty at the Ryan Opera Center, HGO Butler Studio, Music Academy of the West and the Aspen Music Festival. Ms. Zhou holds an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Bowdoin College.
