Barbara Donner has been a stage manager at LA Opera since 1990 and recently completed her 90th production for the company.

Highlights of her time with the company include Achim Freyer’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, Phelim McDermott’s production of Satyagraha and Francesca Zambello’s production of Candide.

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Barbara moved into the world of professional opera, working with San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Barbara has worked with the LA Philharmonic, stage managing their productions of Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro and Cosi fan tutte—all under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel—as well as Yuval Sharon’s productions of Young Caesar, Europeras, Das Lied von der Erde and Meredith Monk’s opera Atlas. She has also stage managed a highly acclaimed production of Bernstein’s On the Town with the San Francisco Symphony and 11 productions of the summer musicals at the Hollywood Bowl.

In 2019, Barbara was awarded the Del Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Art of Stage Management by the Stage Managers’ Association.