Faculty

Beverly Blankenship

Beverly Blankenship, Director Beverly was born in Texas, grew up in Vienna and is bilingual (English and German). She trained as an actress at the Max Reihardt Seminar, accepted her first contract at the Landestheater Salzburg, then left Europe for the blue skies of Australia. There she took up writing film scripts and theatre directing, before returning to Europe in 1992, where she has been working in major theatres.

In addition to a busy career as a theatre and film director as well as script writer, Beverly took on opera direction when she returned to Europe. Big stories, mythic landscapes, large casts and great music have turned out to be irresistible to her.

Her opera directing highlights include LAND DES LÄCHELNS (Volksoper Wien), TSAR ZALTAN (Staatsoper am Gärtnerplatz, Munich), DON GIOVANNI (Landestheater Linz, Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück, Festspiele Reinsberg, Theater Dortmund), DER JUNGE LORD (Landestheater Linz), LA CENERENTOLA (Landestheater Linz, Städtische Bühnen Osnabrück), DER ROSENKAVALIER (Landestheater Linz, Theater Dortmund), UN BALLO IN MASCHERA (Theater Bielefeld), THE LOVE OF THE THREE ORANGES (Landestheater Linz, Staatstheater Nürnberg), DON CARLOS (Staatstheater Saarbrücken), CARMEN (Theater Dortmund), FAUST (Staatstheater Nürnberg), and many more.

Beverly’s last three productions were created as a directing team with her sister Rebecca Blankenship: BARUCHS SCHWEIGEN (Entarteopera, Wien), DER FLIEGENDE HOLLÄNDER (Theater Hagen, Opera Rennes/Anger/Nantes), and DIALOGUES DES CARMELITES (Oper Krefeld/Mönchengladbach). April 2023 will see the premiere of their MADAMA BUTTERFLY (Oper Krefeld/Mönchengladbach)

Beverly has just published her guide for young opera singers and opera directors: DER SINGENDE KÖRPER IN BEWEGUN