“Avant-garde opera for the people…" — New Yorker Magazine

What People Are Saying:

“…so radical, so modern.”

— Badische Neueste Nachrichten, 2019

“…a brilliant reversal of expectations.”

— Los Angeles Times, 2018

“Widely recognized as one of the most ambitious, creative, strong, end edgy opera directors working today.”

— WAMC Radio, 2017

“R.B. Schlather’s production of Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte was the revelation of this Santa Fe Opera season …modern, disturbing, and riveting.”

— Wall Street Journal, 2019

“R.B. Schlather could cause an operatic revolution.”

— Huffington Post, 2015

“R.B. Schlather proved himself first as a comedian with Cimarosa, then in Madama Butterfly almost as a clinical psychiatrist.”

— OpernWelt, 2022

“It was as deeply moving and disturbing an opera performance as I’ve heard this season, thanks to a subtle but devastating staging by director R.B. Schlather.”

— Observer, 2016

“Schlather is oriented towards the work, not adapting the work to himself. Precisely for this reason he can produce something quite idiosyncratic, original.”

— Frankfurter Rundschau, 2021

R.B. Schlather is an American artist and opera director, associated with pushing the boundaries of traditional operatic performance. His work has been praised for challenging norms and creating new and engaging experiences for audiences. In 2023 he was profiled in the New York Times as a rare American opera director bringing “fresh visions to Europe’s opera stages.”

In the 2024/25 season he returns to Oper Frankfurt for a premiere of Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Thomas Guggeis and starring Nicholas Brownlee and Tamara Wilson. Previous productions for Oper Frankfurt include Puccini’s Madama Butterfly (2022, 2023), Cimarosa’s L’Italiana in Londra (2021, 2024) released on Blu-ray/DVD by Naxos, and Handel’s Tamerlano (2019, 2022).

Recent highlights include a double bill of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Britten’s Rape of Lucretia for the Shepherd School of Music with conductor Ben Manis, and Handel’s Rodelinda (New York Times critic’s pick 2023) commissioned by the Hudson Hall in Hudson, NY. This was the first in a series of Handel productions Schlather has been commissioned to produce for the historic theater in collaboration with the early music band Ruckus. And it continues his interest in exploring the composer’s work in alternative spaces. Alcina (2014) and Orlando (2015) were presented as process art installations in galleries on the Lower East Side, live-streamed and open to the public (New York Times: “a valuable project that deserves enthusiastic support,” “a gift given to the NY cultural scene.” Ariodante (2016) was presented an open process salon during his artist residency at Brooklyn’s National Sawdust, and later at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art as part of Opera Omaha’s 2018 ONE Festival. And in 2019, Schlather made his European debut at Oper Frankfurt with an immersive, site-specific production of Tamerlano for the city’s Bockenheimer Depot warehouse. This was a critical success and audience favorite and revived for their 2022/23 season.

Other career highlights include Cosi fan tutte at The Santa Fe Opera conducted by Harry Bickett (“Revelation of the summer season” - Wall Street Journal), Fluxconcert for the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, co-curated with conductor Christopher Rountree (New Yorker Magazine Best Performances 2018), The Mother of us All at the historic Hudson Opera House (New York Times Best Opera of 2017), the world premiere of composer David Hertzberg’s The Wake World conceived for The Barnes Foundation as part of the inaugural Opera Philadelphia O Festival (Best New Opera 2017 Music Critics Association of North America), John Adams’ Doctor Atomic at Curtis Opera Theater, Philip Glass’ Madrigal Opera at National Sawdust, Philip Glass’ In The Penal Colony at Boston Lyric Opera (New York Time’s Best Performances 2015), Salome at Fisher Center Bard with conductor Leon Botstein.

Schlather has directed performances for Oper Frankfurt, The Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gran Theatre del Liceu, National Sawdust, Fisher Center Bard, Tanglewood Music Festival, Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Omaha, Wolf Trap Opera, Curtis Institute of Music, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, IlluminArts, and at the Perez Art Museum Miami, The School | Jack Shainman Gallery, Barnes Foundation, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Bockenheimer Depot, Hudson Opera House, Bemis Center for the Arts, White Box Art Center, Boston Center for the Arts. He has been interviewed by the New York Times, San Francisco Classical Voice, Out Magazine, New Yorker Magazine, Huffington Post, Upstate Diary, I Care if you Listen, Clyde Fitch Report, VAN Magazine, WQXR Radio, and podcasts for Basilica Hudson and IndieOpera. He was an Artist-in-residence at National Sawdust for 2016/17 season, and an Emerging artist during Boston Lyric Opera’s 2014/15 season. He has taught at Curtis Institute of Music, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, The Banff Center for Arts and Creativity, and Ithaca College, where he received a BA in Art History and minor in drama. He is a member of AGMA, and is represented by Opus 3 Artists.