Wichita Grand Opera
Wichita Grand Opera
Century II Concert Hall
225 W. Douglas Ave.
Wichita , Kansas 67202
316.683.3444 Admin Office
316.262.8054 Box Office
2008-2009 Season Stage Directors

H.M.S. Pinafore

Flamenco Español

Cinderella

Aida

Pearl Fishers

Swan Lake

Barber of Seville

Herbert Kellner HERBERT KELLNER
Stage Director (Pearl Fishers)
Mr. Kellner comes to Wichita directly from directing productions of The Pearl Fishers and Barber of Seville for Lyric Opera of Chicago. Kellner made his directing debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 1988 with Puccini’s Tosca. He has also staged Tristan and Isolde and Wagner’s Ring Cycle for the Lyric Opera. He was the resident Stage director and acting coach for the Lyric Opera Young American Artists program from 1984 through 1985. Mr. Kellner has directed at Glynbourne, the Theatre Du Genieve (Switzerland), L’Opera de Montreal, the Los Angeles Opera, Portland Opera, and San Diego Opera, among others. Mr.Kellner has been involved with the world premieres of such operas as Paradise Lost, McTeague, and Therese Raquin. Over the years Mr. Kellner has assisted and studied with such directors as Frank Corsaro, Jean Pierre Ponnelle, John Copely, Sir Peter Hall and August Everding.
JAMES MARVEL
Stage Director (Barber)
In November of 2008, James Marvel made his Lincoln Center debut for the Juilliard Opera Center with Maestro James Conlon conducting. This summer he will be directing a new production of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria for the Wolf Trap Opera Company.
In May 2008, James was named Classical Singer Magazine's "2008 - Stage Director of the Year." Since his professional directing debut in 1996, James has directed over 60 productions in the United States, England, Scotland, Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. James recently made his Italian debut in Sulmona, Italy directing La Boheme. In 2009, he will make his debut in Seoul, South Korea.
His new production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for the San Francisco Opera Merola Program was named "Best Production of the Year" by the San Francisco Chronicle. James served as Co-Director with Henryk Baranowski at Teatr Wielki in Lodz, Poland on Philip Glass' Akhnaten, which won 2 Golden Mask Awards for Best Direction and Best Production of the Year.
Other career highlights include groundbreaking new productions of Les Pecheurs De Perles for Opera Boston; La Voix Humaine at Florence Gould Hall in New York City and for the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium; and Tosca at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.
John Stephens JOHN STEPHENS
Stage Director (Pinafore)
American bass and Stage Director John Stephens has sung with opera companies and symphonies for over 30 years, appearing with the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and many others. He has an affinity for character roles, both comic and dramatic, particularly the works of Gilbert and Sullivan, having directed or sung in hundreds of productions. He has directed Benjamin Britten’s operas Albert Herring, The Turn of the Screw, and The Rape of Lucretia, Carlyle Floyd’s Susannah and Of Mice and Men, and many other works. As director of the voice program at the University of Kansas, he has taught voice and directed operas for the past 26 years. Mr. Stephens directed and sang in WGO’s productions of The Mikado in 2004 and The Pirates of Penzance in 2008.
Shayna Leahy SHAYNA LEAHY
Stage Director (Aida)
Shayna Leahy began working for the Wichita Grand Opera during WGO’s 2003 production of Carmen, when she served as assistant to Stage Director Margaret Ann Pent and Music Director Eugene Kohn. She subsequently filled many roles with the WGO, including production coordinator, stage manager, and again as Assistant Director under John Stephens during Pirates of Penzance. In addition to her engagements as a Stage Director, she is the Director of Vocal Music & Theory at Highland Community College and holds the positions of Music Director and Stage Director with the Hiawatha Theatre Society. Last season she was awarded the David Farrar Internship for Stage Direction as part of the Martina Arroyo Prelude to Performance program, where she was Assistant Director for Un Ballo in maschera under Laura Alley.