Stage Directors
World
After separate beginnings in dance, theatre, television, circus and the opera field, Renaud Doucet, Stage director & Choreographer and André Barbe, Set & Costume Designer, have created over fifty new opera productions that are recognized for their creativity, sense of spectacle and detailed dramaturgy.
Their work as a team has gained international recognition with their many new productions such as: Die Zauberflöte at the Glyndebourne Festival; La Cenerentola, La belle Hélène and Die Fledermaus at Hamburg Staatsoper; La fille du régiment at Teatro La Fenice di Venezia and Teatro Regio di Torino; Il signor Bruschino at Rossini Opera Festival and Teatro Comunale di Bologna; La Cenerentola at Opéra National du Capitole de Toulouse; Pelléas et Mélisande at Teatro Regio di Parma and Opéra Royal de Wallonie de Liège; Samson and Dalila at Royal Opera in Stockholm; Die Feen for Oper Leipzig in coproduction with the Bayreuther Festspiele; Les contes d’Hoffmann at Oper Bonn; Pénélope, Si j’étais roi, Thérèse/La Navarraise and Il bravo at the Wexford Festival Opera; Arabella, Il matrimonio segreto and La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein at Oper Köln; Cendrillon at Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Opéra de Marseille, New York City Opera and Opéra de Montréal; the Viennese premiere of The Sound of Music, Turandot and Rusalka at Volksoper Wien; Benvenuto Cellini and Iphigénie en Aulide at Opéra National du Rhin; Turandot at Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera, Utah Opera, Cincinnati Opera and Vancouver Opera; La bohème at Theatre St Gallen, Vancouver Opera, Opéra National du Capitole de Toulouse, Manon at Scottish Opera and Malmö Opera, Don Pasquale at Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova and Canadian Opera Company, an entire season for the Florida Grand Opera in Miami with Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, Il barbiere di Siviglia and Carmen.
André Barbe received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Concordia University then studied at the National Theatre School of Canada under the tutelage of designer François Barbeau. Up to now, he has designed over 300 productions for theatre, television and opera. He received the Irish Times Irish Theatre Award for best designer for the production of Pénélope at Wexford Festival Opera as well as the Rolf-Mares Prize for best sets and costumes for the production of La Cenerentola at the Hamburgische Staatsoper. Since 2010, he has been teaching Set and Costume design at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Trained musician, Renaud Doucet began his performing career as a solo dancer, ballet master, teacher and choreographer in international dance companies. He was introduced to the opera world as a baroque choreographer and gesture specialist, coaching singers such as Alfredo Kraus, Jaime Aragall, Raina Kabaivanska and Mirella Freni. He also worked as an actor in movies and tv series. Now, he is regularly invited to teach young singers and pianists in various opera programs such as the Manhattan School of Music, the Hamburg Staatsoper Opernstudio, l’Atelier lyrique de l’Opéra de Montréal.
LATEST PRODUCTIONS: L’elisir d’amore at Theater Kiel; La bohème at Scottish Opera; Don Pasquale in Kiel and at Scottisch Opera; La fille du régiment at Teatro Petruzzelli di Bari; La Cenerentola at Latvian National Opera in Riga; The sound of music at Volksoper in Vienna; Die Zauberflöte in Glyndebourne.
FORTHCOMING PROJECTS: Die Zauberflöte at Houston Grand Opera; Il barbiere di Siviglia at New Israeli Opera Tel Aviv; Offenbach’s Le Pont des Soupirs in Venice.
