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Thaddeus Strassberger
From: New York, New York. LA Opera: The Two Foscari (2012, debut); Nabucco (2017); The Clemency of Titus (2018).
Thaddeus Strassberger won the European Opera Prize in 2005 for direction and scenic design. He earned a degree in engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City and received a Fulbright Fellowship to complete the Corso di Specializzazione per Scenografi Realizzatori at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2001. Strassberger is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Italy and the USA, and lives and runs his studio from London.
His work has taken him around to the world where he has created over 75 productions in more than 15 countries, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, LA Opera and Theater an der Wien.
He returned to Oper im Steinbruch Sankt Margarethen in 2024 to direct and design a large scale open-air Aida, after previously directing Turandot there in 2021, a production seen by nearly 100,000 people in the historic quarry amphitheater in Burgenland near Vienna as well as broadcast live on ORF across Austria. Also in 2024, he made his debut at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège with La Traviata, returning in 2025 to open the season with Faust. He makes his debut with La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels with a new production of Benvenuto Cellini in 2026.
Recent new productions include Boris Godunov and Werther (Tiroler Landestheater), Nabucco (Palau de las Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia; Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe), Carmen (Danish National Opera), The Demon (Bard Summerscape, New York), Silent Light, a new work by Paola Prestini and Royce Vavrek (Banff Centre), The Girl of the Golden West (NCPA Beijing) and The Nutcracker (IU Ballet).
His production of Satyagraha, the first production of a Philip Glass opera in Russia, won the 2014 Bravo Award for Best Production and was awarded two Golden Mask Awards. Also in Ekaterinburg he staged Weinberg’s The Passenger, which was also seen at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and Martinů's A Greek Passion in a new Russian translation. These productions remain in repertoire at the Ural Opera and have collectively played more than 200 performances to eager audiences.
Other past productions include Rigoletto, Andrea Chenier and The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (Staatstheater Braunschweig), The Two Foscari (Theater an der Wien, LA Opera, Palau de las Arts Valencia) and The Marriage of Figaro, The Rape of Lucretia and Don Giovanni (The Norwegian Opera), the world premieres of David T. Little's JFK (Opera de Montreal/Fort Worth) and Søren Nils Eichberg's Glare (Covent Garden), Un Ballo in Maschera, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Queen of Spades (Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck), a fully immersive full-scale Salome (Tulsa Opera) and Hamlet (Washington National Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City).
For Bard SummerScape in New York, he created productions of Les Huguesnots, Der ferne Klang and Le roi malgré lui (co-produced with Wexford Festival), his widely acclaimed production of Sergei Tanejev’s monumental opera Oresteia, the first staging of the neglected masterpiece to be seen outside of Russia, and Ethyl Smyth’s The Wreckers. His production of Nabucco has been seen at LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Florida Grand Opera, and Opera de Montreal.
He served as creative director for Riyadh Season Opening Parade Ceremonies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 2021. The event with a cast of nearly a thousand performers was produced by Balich Wonder Studios and was attended by over 500,000 spectators and broadcast live on national television.
He has also served as a creative consultant on several large-scale ceremonies and performances in Saudi Arabia, helping to shape the emerging creative identity of the culturally rich region. For Opera America, he has served on jury panels for grant awards totaling over half a million dollars. He has worked with the young artist program participants in many major opera houses including LA Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Minnesota Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and IVAI in Italy.
Learn more at tstrassberger.com.
Thaddeus Strassberger won the European Opera Prize in 2005 for direction and scenic design. He earned a degree in engineering from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York City and received a Fulbright Fellowship to complete the Corso di Specializzazione per Scenografi Realizzatori at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2001. Strassberger is a proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation, Italy and the USA, and lives and runs his studio from London.
His work has taken him around to the world where he has created over 75 productions in more than 15 countries, including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, LA Opera and Theater an der Wien.
He returned to Oper im Steinbruch Sankt Margarethen in 2024 to direct and design a large scale open-air Aida, after previously directing Turandot there in 2021, a production seen by nearly 100,000 people in the historic quarry amphitheater in Burgenland near Vienna as well as broadcast live on ORF across Austria. Also in 2024, he made his debut at Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège with La Traviata, returning in 2025 to open the season with Faust. He makes his debut with La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels with a new production of Benvenuto Cellini in 2026.
Recent new productions include Boris Godunov and Werther (Tiroler Landestheater), Nabucco (Palau de las Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia; Badisches Staatstheater in Karlsruhe), Carmen (Danish National Opera), The Demon (Bard Summerscape, New York), Silent Light, a new work by Paola Prestini and Royce Vavrek (Banff Centre), The Girl of the Golden West (NCPA Beijing) and The Nutcracker (IU Ballet).
His production of Satyagraha, the first production of a Philip Glass opera in Russia, won the 2014 Bravo Award for Best Production and was awarded two Golden Mask Awards. Also in Ekaterinburg he staged Weinberg’s The Passenger, which was also seen at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, and Martinů's A Greek Passion in a new Russian translation. These productions remain in repertoire at the Ural Opera and have collectively played more than 200 performances to eager audiences.
Other past productions include Rigoletto, Andrea Chenier and The Voyage of Edgar Allan Poe (Staatstheater Braunschweig), The Two Foscari (Theater an der Wien, LA Opera, Palau de las Arts Valencia) and The Marriage of Figaro, The Rape of Lucretia and Don Giovanni (The Norwegian Opera), the world premieres of David T. Little's JFK (Opera de Montreal/Fort Worth) and Søren Nils Eichberg's Glare (Covent Garden), Un Ballo in Maschera, The Tales of Hoffmann and The Queen of Spades (Tiroler Landestheater Innsbruck), a fully immersive full-scale Salome (Tulsa Opera) and Hamlet (Washington National Opera, Minnesota Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City).
For Bard SummerScape in New York, he created productions of Les Huguesnots, Der ferne Klang and Le roi malgré lui (co-produced with Wexford Festival), his widely acclaimed production of Sergei Tanejev’s monumental opera Oresteia, the first staging of the neglected masterpiece to be seen outside of Russia, and Ethyl Smyth’s The Wreckers. His production of Nabucco has been seen at LA Opera, Washington National Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Florida Grand Opera, and Opera de Montreal.
He served as creative director for Riyadh Season Opening Parade Ceremonies in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in October 2021. The event with a cast of nearly a thousand performers was produced by Balich Wonder Studios and was attended by over 500,000 spectators and broadcast live on national television.
He has also served as a creative consultant on several large-scale ceremonies and performances in Saudi Arabia, helping to shape the emerging creative identity of the culturally rich region. For Opera America, he has served on jury panels for grant awards totaling over half a million dollars. He has worked with the young artist program participants in many major opera houses including LA Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Minnesota Opera, Houston Grand Opera, and IVAI in Italy.
Learn more at tstrassberger.com.