About
Ella Marchment is widely acclaimed as one of opera’s most original auteur artistic directors and directors. Her productions have been staged across the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, America, and Russia, as well as broadcast internationally by Opera Vision, BBC Radio 3, and Channel 4. Ella’s production of Le roi de Lahore for Dorset Opera was nominated for an International Opera Award in 2023, and her production of Hydrogen Jukebox for Shenandoah Conservatory won the National Opera Association (NOA) 2022–2023 Opera Production Award.
Ella is currently the Artistic Director of Opera in the Rock, Arkansas, and has previously served as the Artistic Director of Opera Festival of Chicago, Helios Collective, Constella OperaBallet, Theatre N16, and the internationally celebrated Opera Harmony movement.
Since 2017 Ella has directed the International Opera Awards, hosting opera’s version of the Oscars at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, ENO’s London Coliseum, and Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.
As well as directing productions worldwide, Ella is also Director of Opera and Associate Professor at Shenandoah Conservatory (Shenandoah University), and a co-founder of the opera charity SWAP’ra.
Artistic Director
Ella is currently the Artistic Director of Opera in the Rock, Arkansas, and has previously served as the Artistic Director of Opera Festival of Chicago, Helios Collective, Constella OperaBallet, Theatre N16, and the internationally celebrated Opera Harmony movement.
Ella’s innovatory projects and productions have included new opera commissions; masterclasses led by internationally renowned directors, composers, conductors, and singers; opera club nights and festivals; a new operatic format that combines opera arias with theatrical scripts; an operatic short film for Channel 4; interactive animated opera productions; research-driven rescoring and restaging of canonical works; operas programmed alongside plays; international competitions for new compositions; and operas combined with ballet and modern dance.
As an artistic director, stage director, movement director, designer, and producer who promotes artistic collaboration in all of her productions, Ella seamlessly blends visual aesthetics with powerful storytelling to create seasons of memorable operatic performances.
Opera Director
Ella Marchment is an internationally renowned opera director, lauded for the innovation and originality she brings to the staging of operatic works. With a deep love of opera and a profound understanding of its intricacies, Ella believes that opera should be thrilling to make, enthralling to watch, and accessible to everyone. Her works have been staged by companies across the United Kingdom, Europe, Scandinavia, America, and Russia, as well as broadcast internationally by Opera Vision, BBC Radio 3, and Channel 4.
Ella’s approach to directing is founded on both academic study and years of pioneering work in opera and theatre. In redefining what canonical operas and contemporary masterpieces can be, Ella’s productions combine the power of music, drama, and visual art to create compelling, transformative, and emotional shows.
“Tremendously enjoyable and accomplished…what a delightful operatic experience”
– Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph
For more information about Ella’s opera productions and directing credits, click here.
Ella is represented professionally by Day Macaskill of Cruickshank Cazenove.
Latest Productions
Ella Marchment’s recent and future productions include:
- Caged Birds, Opera Up Close, 2023
- L’aube rouge, Wexford Festival Opera, 2023
- Le roi de Lahore, Dorset Opera, 2023 – nominated for an International Opera Award in 2023 in the Rediscovered Work category
- Barnum’s Bird, Royal College of Music, 2023
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shenandoah Conservatory, 2023
- International Opera Awards 2022, Teatro Real, 2022
- Hydrogen Jukebox, Shenandoah Conservatory, 2022 – Winner of the National Opera Association (NOA) 2022–2023 Opera Production Award
- Golden Crown, OperaVision, 2022
- Native American Inspirations, La Biennale di Venezia, 2022
- Little Women, Opera Holland Park, 2022
For a full list of productions, click here.
Speaker
As an artistic director, a stage and film director, and a professor of opera, Ella has spoken and lectured at world-renowned companies and conservatoires.
Ella has addressed events held at Opera Europa in the Netherlands and Italy; The Royal Opera House, The Southbank Centre, The Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and The Wiener Holocaust Library in London; Arts Council England in Bristol; Welsh National Opera in Cardiff; and The Dallas Opera and Opera in the Rock in America. Ella has also featured in broadcasts hosted by BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC Woman’s Hour, OperaCast, and Resonance FM.
Ella’s engagements have covered topics such as the art of stage directing, the role of women in opera, diversity in theatre and the arts, opera management, the future of opera, and arts funding.
Click here to contact Ella about a speaking or lecturing engagement.
Professor & Writer
Ella Marchment is an Associate Professor and the Director of Opera at Shenandoah Conservatory, one of America’s most eminent universities for music.
From 2021 to 2022 Ella worked as a guest director at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London. From 2019 to 2021 Ella was a member of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama vocal faculty in London, and from 2020 to 2021 she was the Director of Opera at Northern Illinois University in the USA.
Ella has also directed productions for the Royal College of Music in London, and worked as an Associate Director and an Assistant Director for The Juilliard School in New York.
Ella has been commissioned by publishers in London to write a book on arts management.
Awards
Ella’s production of Le roi de Lahore for Dorset Opera was nominated for an International Opera Award in 2023, and her production of Hydrogen Jukebox for Shenandoah Conservatory won the National Opera Association (NOA) 2022–2023 Opera Production Award.
In both 2018 and 2022 Ella was a semi-finalist in the European Opera-Directing Prize, and in 2018 she was shortlisted for the Women of the Future Awards in the arts and culture category. In 2015 Ella became the first opera director to receive an International Opera Awards bursary.
Ella has a first-class honours degree in music – with German and Italian – from King’s College London and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as a scholarship for academic excellence awarded by King’s College London. Ella also has postgraduate qualifications in set design from Central St Martins in London, and in teaching drama from City Lit in London.
International Opera Awards, Director
Since 2017 Ella has directed the International Opera Awards, hosting opera’s version of the Oscars at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London, ENO’s London Coliseum, and Teatro Real in Madrid, Spain.
As a highlight of the opera calendar, the ceremony brings together artists and producers to recognize excellence in opera worldwide and to promote opera as a thriving and progressive art form.
Since its foundation in 2012 the International Opera Awards has raised funds for the Opera Awards Foundation, providing bursaries for aspiring artists, including singers, directors, conductors, répétiteurs, and accompanists.
The Opera Festival of Chicago, Artistic Director and Co-founder
The Opera Festival of Chicago presents world-class productions of Italian masterpieces that are seldom performed in the United States. The company aspires to generate an appetite for opera within the Chicago demographic; to make operatic works and their cultural contexts accessible to a wide audience; and to highlight and celebrate the immense artistic talent of the Chicagoland area.
Ella worked for several years on the planning and fundraising needed to establish The Opera Festival of Chicago, and she was the company’s Artistic Director from 2019 to 2023.
Something great here rises
Chicago Tribune
Opera Harmony, Artistic Director and Founder
In direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Ella founded Opera Harmony, a global arts collective of more than 100 composers, librettists, directors, choreographers, designers, musicians, singers, actors, dancers, sound engineers, and film-makers.
While isolated on different continents and in different time zones, the artists wrote and filmed twenty original short operas, developing a range of trailblazing production techniques while they worked.
The internationally acclaimed operas attracted record-breaking viewing numbers worldwide when they premiered on OperaVision in the summer of 2020
A genuinely imaginative fusion of sound and screen that manages to say something worthwhile
The Guardian
SWAP’ra, Co-founder
In 2018 Ella co-founded SWAP’ra (Supporting Women and Parents in Opera), a charity that strives to provide opportunities and resources for female and parent performers, composers, conductors, directors, and other professionals in the field of opera. Through mentorship programmes, workshops, and networking events, SWAP’ra aims to connect, inspire, and empower artists to thrive in their careers.
Swap’ra also actively advocates for gender balance on and off the stage, working with opera companies, festivals, and institutions to address the gender gap in the industry. SWAP’ra champions equal representation, fair opportunities, and recognition of the talent and contributions made by all artists, helping opera companies to realize the long-term benefits of making talent-based gender-indiscriminate appointments.
Ella is currently a SWAP’ra Creative Associate.
Working with SWAP’ra points to a new way of looking at working practices in opera, while being realistic about the unusual nature of the business itself
Opera Holland Park
Helios Collective, Artistic Director and Founder
In 2012 Ella founded Helios Collective, a pioneering opera company that commissioned and staged new compositions, reimagined works from the canon, and provided opportunities for emerging artists to work alongside pre-eminent opera performers and producers.
Ella was the Artistic Director of Helios Collective from 2012 to 2021.
Helios Collective is something to be excited about: our music is in their hands
Broadway Baby
Constella OperaBallet, Artistic Director and Director of Productions
Constella OperaBallet has given numerous extensively acclaimed performances across the UK, including broadcasts on national radio and television. It has established a reputation for showcasing exceptionally talented artists in exhilarating and experimental productions.
Ella was the Artistic Director and the Director of Productions of Constella OperaBallet from 2016 to 2018.
Fun, fizzing, and contemporary
Suzy Klein, BBC Radio 3
Theatre N16, Artistic Director and Co-founder
Co-founded by Jamie Eastlake and Ella Marchment, Theatre N16 promotes and stages cutting-edge productions across both theatre and opera.
Ella was the Artistic Director of Theatre N16 from 2015 to 2016.
Ella Marchment’s directing focuses on the multilayers of the story, bringing freshness to the writing
TOP LONDON THEATRE REVIEW
Contact
Ella is represented professionally by Day Macaskill of Cruickshank Cazenove.
Day Macaskill
Cruickshank Cazenove Ltd
97 Old South Lambeth Road
London, SW8 1XU
United Kingdom
Phone: 020 7735 2933
Intl: +44 20 7735 2933
Email: day (@) ccagents.co.uk
Web: cruickshankcazenove.com
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