Keturah Stickann

Stage Director

Keturah Stickann’s work has been seen in countless opera houses across the United States and Canada, as well as in Chile, Japan, France, Germany, Hungary, and Australia. A champion of new American opera, she has worked extensively with director and librettist, Leonard Foglia, helping to bring new operas to the stage by Ricky Ian Gordon, Jennifer Higdon, Jose “Pepe” Martinez, and Jake Heggie & Gene Scheer. Her work on the premieres of Moby-Dick (2010), and It’s A Wonderful Life (2016) prompted Jake Heggie to ask her to helm the premiere of his newest opera, If I Were You (2019), at the Merola Opera Program. In addition, she has directed works by Mr. Gordon (Orpheus and Euridice), Laura Kaminsky and Mark Campbell (As One), Anthony Davis and Allan Havis (Lilith), and Robert Aldridge and Herschel Garfein (Sister Carrie).

Ms. Stickann has directed many new productions, most recently the drive-in versions of La Bohème and The Barber of Seville for San Diego Opera, developed with Covid protocol in mind. Her distilled, reimagined version of La Bohème went on to enjoy a new production at Virginia Opera in 2021. Other new productions include Candide (Michigan Opera Theatre), La clemenza di Tito (Opera in the Heights), Dialogues of the Carmelites (Rutgers University), Don Giovanni (Janiec Opera Company), Don Pasquale (Opera in the Heights), L’Elisir d’amore (Opera Birmingham), L’enfant et les sortileges (Opera Steamboat), Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Opera Fayetteville), Macbeth (Kentucky Opera), Norma (Opera Southwest), Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (Chautauqua Opera), Pelléas et Mélisande (West Edge Opera), Rusalka (Madison Opera), The Seven Deadly Sins/Pagliacci (Virginia Opera), Tosca (Knoxville Opera), La tragédie de Carmen (Janiec Opera Company), and La Traviata (Knoxville Opera, Chautauqua Opera), among others.

Born and raised in the Midwest, Ms. Stickann had an early career as a classical and contemporary dancer, dancing extensively in opera toward the end of her performing career, most notably at San Diego Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, New York City Opera, and Chicago Opera Theater. Her background in dance and theater has made her a sought-after movement coach, working with young artists at the La Jolla Playhouse, the Brevard Music Center, Stephen’s College, DePaul University, Opera Memphis, The San Diego Opera, and Virginia Opera.