{{short description|British opera and theatre director (born 1976)}} {{about||the American stock car racing driver|Walter Sutcliffe Jr.}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}} '''Walter Sutcliffe''' (born 1976) is a British opera and theatre director.
==Biography== The son of the opera critic Tom Sutcliffe and the playwright and librettist Meredith Oakes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.operastagecoach.co.uk/?page=opera/index#biography|title=Biography (on Tom Sutcliffe's website)|accessdate=25 February 2011}}</ref> Sutcliffe studied the bassoon at the Royal College of Music and at Cambridge University.
His productions have included Christopher Fry's ''The Lady's Not for Burning'', Strindberg's ''The Great Highway'' and the Austrian premiere of Michael Tippett's ''The Knot Garden'' for the Klangbogen Festival in Vienna. He directed the American stage premiere of Leoš Janáček's first opera, ''Sarka'', for Dicapo Opera, New York. In 2017, his new productions included ''Rigoletto'' in Santiago, Chile, ''Manon Lescaut'' in Osnabruck, and Eugen d'Albert's ''Tiefland'' in Toulouse.
At the Bockenheimer Depot for Frankfurt Opera, he directed the first production in Germany of Benjamin Britten's opera ''Owen Wingrave'' in January 2010, and of Aribert Reimann's ''Gespenstersonate'' in January 2014. Also in Frankfurt he staged Antonio Cesti's ''L'Orontea'' in February 2015. He has directed among other works, such as Mozart's ''Don Giovanni'' and Offenbach's ''Orpheus in the Underworld'' for the opera in Osnabrück, Verdi's ''Luisa Miller'' and ''La Traviata'' in Braunschweig, ''Werther'' and ''Kiss Me Kate'' in Magdeburg, ''Le Grand Macabre'' and ''Der Zwerg'' in Chemnitz, ''Cosi fan tutte'' and ''Carmen'' in Tallinn, Estonia, ''Otello'' in Turin, ''Owen Wingrave'' and ''The Turn of the Screw'' in Toulouse, and ''Albert Herring'' in Linz.
Sutcliffe was artistic director at NI Opera from January 2017<ref>{{Cite web |title=New Artistic Director at Northern Ireland Opera |url=https://journalofmusic.com/news-uk/new-artistic-director-northern-ireland-opera |access-date=2025-09-14 |website=The Journal of Music {{!}} Music in Ireland: News, Reviews and Opinion |language=en}}</ref> to April 2020. During his three year tenure, he oversaw productions of ''The Threepenny Opera'', ''Rigoletto'', ''Sweeney Todd'', ''Die Fledermaus'' and ''Kiss Me, Kate''. In 2021, he became ''Intendant'' (artistic director) and Director of Opera at Theater-Halle in Germany.<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Brite Walter Sutcliffe soll neuer Intendant der Oper Halle werden | url=https://www.nmz.de/politik-betrieb/musikwirtschaft/brite-walter-sutcliffe-soll-neuer-intendant-der-oper-halle-werden | work=NMZ | date=2020-01-15 | access-date=2025-09-18}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Emma Pomfrett, interview with Sutcliffe, ''Opera Now'' magazine, Nov/Dec 2008
==External links== * [https://www.lewin-management.com/artists/34_Walter+Sutcliffe/englishbio Michael Lewin International Artists Management page on Walter Sutcliffe] * [https://www.arsis-artists.com/en/artists/walter-sutcliffe Arsis Management agency page on Walter Sutcliffe] * [https://www.buehnen-halle.de/de/persons/walter-sutcliffe/117 City of Halle page (German-language) on Walter Sutcliffe]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutcliffe, Walter}} Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:British opera directors Category:British theatre directors
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