Collegiate Affiliation

Associate Professor: Opera

A native of Toronto, Canada, David Walsh graduated with Honours in Political Science and Economics before studying Theatre Science at the University of Toronto. Following a career as Production Stage Manager with the Canadian Opera Company, Stratford Festival and Scottish Opera, he left the technical sphere to become Assistant Stage Director with English Music Theatre. In 1978, he began a two-year assignment with English National Opera as Staff Producer. From 1980 to 1984, he was under contract to Frankfurt Opera as Assistant Director. During this Period, he was a guest Assistant Director at Nederlandse Opera, Brussels Opera, the Royal Opera House (Covent Garden) and Santa Fe Opera. From 1984 to 1987, Mr. Walsh served as Assistant Artistic Director to Brian McMaster with Vancouver Opera. Mr. Walsh held the post of Head of Production for Scottish Opera from 1987 to 1991.

As a Stage Director, David Walsh has worked extensively in Germany, Great Britain, America and Canada. He has produced Fidelio for Paris Opera with Jon Vickers and Hildegard Behrens in the title roles and conducted by Seiji Ozawa (1982). This production was repeated triumphantly at English National with Kathrin Harries as Leonore. For the Bad Hersfeld Festival in Germany, he created highly acclaimed stagings of two Monteverdi operas“”L’Incoronazione di Poppea (1982) and Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria (1983). Mr. Walsh has scored success with Don Giovanni and La Bohí¨me for Scottish Opera, Madama Butterfly for Opera Lyra (Ottawa), Salome for Calgary Opera, a stunning production of The Turn of the Screw for Vancouver Opera and with an outstandingly intelligent and witty production of La Belle Hélí¨ne for L’Opéra Francais de New York.

In 1998 Mr. Walsh returned to Europe to undertake the post of Szenischer Studienleiter for the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dí¼sseldorf. For this company he has directed Der Fliegende Hollí¤nder for a Gastspiel in Shanghai, China. He thus had the honour of directing the first-ever production of a Wagner opera in the history of China. In 1999 Mr. Walsh directed La Bohí¨me for the company in Dí¼sseldorf and in 2002 a new staging of Ariadne auf Naxos.

In January 2001 Mr. Walsh directed a highly successful revival of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Palestrina for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden. In spring 2002 Mr. Walsh assisted Dr. Lehnhoff on a production of Puccini’s Turandot at the Nederlandse Opera conducted by Riccardo Chailly. This performance was filmed and included a new final scene composed by Luciano Berio. In 2003 Mr. Walsh again acted as Assistant Director to Dr. Lehnhoff on a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio at the Salzburg Festival conducted by the Artistic Director Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In autumn 2003 Mr. Walsh remounted this production for L’Opera de Lyon and in 2004 for the Tokyo Festival in Japan. In summer 2004 he directed a revival of Verdi’s La Traviata for the Deutsche Oper-am-Rhein in Duesseldorf. In April 2005 he made his debut for the Israeli Opera in Tel Aviv with Fidelio. In summer 2006 Mr. Walsh returned to the Deutsche Oper-am Rhein to direct a revival production of Bizet’s Carmen followed by a new production of Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in fall 2006.

In September 2002 Mr. Walsh began an appointment as Director of Opera Theatre at the University of Minnesota School of Music.