Orpha Phelan

Orpha Phelan has directed opera nationally and internationally for over ten years. Following her tremendous successes with Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Jenůfa for Malmö Opera last year (recently released by Arthaus Musik on DVD to rave reviews), she returns to Malmö next season with La Bohème. Her production of Così Fan Tutte with Opera Theatre Company earlier this year marked her first production in her native Ireland.

Future plans include her Dutch debut with Billy Budd for Reis Opera, l’Orfeo with Richard Egarr and The Academy of Ancient Music at The Barbican, and Curlew River with Theatre Nohgaku. She has recently returned to the UK from the Sydney Opera House, where she directed Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi for Opera Australia . Her recent staging of the UK premiere of Jonathan Harvey’s Wagner Dream at The Barbican marked her first collaboration with Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Orpha has worked on several productions at The Royal Opera, Glyndebourne, Opera North and Wexford Opera. A lover of Japanese theatre, Orpha enjoys bringing Noh to western audiences through workshops throughout the UK and Europe. She has collaborated with Hideki Noda on his contemporary Noh play The Diver at The Soho Theatre, London and The Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo.

Orpha was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland. She is the recipient of a bronze medal from the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, read economics at University College Galway and was awarded an MA in Arts Criticism from City University, London.