Graham Vick
British opera director

Graham Vick

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British opera director
Gender:
Male
Work field:
Birth:
30 December 1953(Birkenhead, United Kingdom)
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Education:
Royal Northern College of Music
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The details
Biography

Introduction

Graham Vick CBE (born 30 December 1953 in Birkenhead) is an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He has worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and is currently artistic director of Birmingham Opera Company.

Life and career

Vick studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. At age 24, he directed a production of Gustav Holst's Savitri for Scottish Opera, and became the company's director of productions in 1984. From 1994 to 2000, Vick was director of productions at Glyndebourne Opera.

In 1987, he founded the Birmingham Opera Company and remains its artistic director. Vick's productions with Birmingham Opera include the first UK production of Othello to feature a black tenor in the title role in 2009, and the 2012 world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's notoriously difficult Mittwoch aus Licht.

Vick was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours.

Recordings

Many of Vick's productions can be seen on DVD including Lulu (Glyndebourne, 2004) Warner Music Vision B000189L10, and Falstaff (Covent Garden, 2001) Opus Arte B00005NUP8.

Sources

  • Millington, Barry, "Vick, Graham"in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, ed. Stanley Sadie (London, 1992) ISBN 0-333-73432-7
  • Jasper Rees, 'La traviata: A Nuremberg-style display of synchronised chair-swivelling', The Daily Telegraph, 25 October 2007 [1]
  • Edward Rothstein, 'In New Hall, Echoes of Glyndebourne Old', New York Times, 4 June 1994 [2]
  • Martin Bernheimer, 'Living Dangerously' (Profile of Graham Vick), Opera News, June 2000 [3]
  • Hamilton, Mary. (1990). A-Z of Opera. New York, Oxford, Sydney: Facts On File. p. 212. ISBN 0-8160-2340-9.
  • Sadie, Stanley and John Tyrrell. (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan Publishers Ltd. Vol. 26, p. 530. ISBN 0-333-60800-3.
  • Warrack, John, and Ewan West. (1996 3rd ed.). The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Opera. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 538. ISBN 0-19-280028-0.