Scott Skiba

Award-winning Stage Director Scott Skiba has led more than 60 new productions, earning recognition for his imaginative stage direction and dynamic physical approach to storytelling that is “masterful, ingenious, first-rate, vivid and emotionally charged." Scott serves as Executive Artistic Director of Cleveland Opera Theater, where his recent production of La Traviata was named “the best professional opera production Cleveland has seen in years.” Additional credits for the company include new productions of Madama Butterfly, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, A Streetcar Named Desire, Tosca, La Rondine, Gianni Schicchi, Il Tabarro, Pagliacci,and The Threepenny Opera.  

 

In the last several years, Scott has made multiple company debuts including Roméo et Juliette for Pensacola Opera, Macbeth for Opera Tampa, The Ballad of Baby Doe with Toledo Opera, Faust and Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Natchez Festival of Music, The Student Prince at Opera Grand Rapids, Carmen for Opera Western Reserve, Suor Angelica and La Bohème for Mobile Opera, and Don Giovanni and La Tragédie de Carmen for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival. Upcoming engagements include Don Giovanni for Indianapolis Opera; The Threepenny Opera for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival; the Cleveland premiere of Evan Mack and Joshua McGuire’s The Ghosts of Gatsby for The National Opera Association and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory; the world-premiere production of Griffin Candey’s La Casa de Bernarda Alba; and a new adaptation of Pelléas et Mélisande. 

 

A proponent of new opera, Scott launched {NOW} Fest, Cleveland Opera Theater's annual event to create, develop, and produce new opera works. He also serves on the Chamber Opera Composition Committee for the National Opera Association. A pioneer in exploring contemporary approaches to producing opera, Scott's work includes directing and producing interdisciplinary collaborations in alternative venues to promote civic engagement and provide gateways to develop new audiences. Such projects include the professional premiere of Griffin Candey’s Sweets By Kate, which was produced by Marble City Opera and performed in Sugar Mama's Bakery in downtown Knoxville, Tennessee. Scott was also the visionary behind The New Opera Project, which developed and premiered six Micro-Operas in collaboration with Interlochen Arts Academy, Parallel 45 Theatre Company, and Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan. Scott also created the iLyric project - an installation of nine different operas throughout the historic piazze of Arezzo, Italy in collaboration with the ICASTICA Festival and the city of Arezzo, Italy. 

 

An advocate of arts education, Scott serves as Director of Opera Studies for Baldwin Wallace Conservatory, whose spring 2017 production of Dialogues of the Carmelites won first place in the National Opera Association Collegiate Opera Competition. Additional university directing credits include La Finta Giardiniera with University of Tennessee Opera Theater; Carmen for University of Texas at Rio Grand Valley; Tobermory, Trouble in Tahiti, and Roman Fever for Oberlin Opera Theater; Serse and La finta giardiniera for Oberlin in Italy; The Crucible and Falstaff for Martina Arroyo's Role Preparation Program at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; and The Pirates of Penzance, Dido & Aeneas, The Spider and Orpheus in The Underworld for Interlochen Opera Theater.

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Scott serves as Assistant Artistic Director for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, and Movement & Acting Instructor for Music Across the Pond (MAP).  Previous appointments include: Executive Director of the Oberlin in Italy opera training program, Instructor of Voice and Opera Theater, Interlochen Arts Academy; Production Designer, East Carolina University Opera Theater, and Associate Instructor of Voice, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.