John de los Santos

Special guest

Director/choreographer and librettist John de los Santos has been called a “brilliant combination of literary insight and choreographic creativity.” He has staged a range of productions that include opera, musicals, plays, concert, and ballet. His productions include the world premiere of The Astronaut Love Show at the Kraine Theater (NYC), The Rose and the Knife, Otello, and Le Comte Ory (called “a perfect fusion” by The New York Times) for LoftOpera (NYC), La Cage Aux Folles for Skylight Music Theatre, La Fille du Regiment for Arizona Opera, South Pacific for Ashlawn Opera, María de Buenos Aires for San Diego and Fort Worth Opera, and Lexington Philharmonic, and Green Sneakers for Opera Birmingham and the Southside Theatre at San Francisco’s historic Fort Mason Center. He choreographed the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Great Scott, directed by Jack O’Brien, for the Dallas Opera. His choreography has also been seen at the Washington National, Florida Grand, Philadelphia, Des Moines Metro, Utah Festival, and Austin Lyric Opera Companies.

John’s first opera libretto with composer Clint Borzoni, When Adonis Calls, was selected for inclusion in Fort Worth Opera’s Frontiers showcase, performed in concert by operamission in NYC, and had its world premiere at Asheville Lyric Opera in 2018. John’s new collaboration with Borzoni, The Copper Queen, won the top prize Arizona Opera’s commission program, Arizona SPARK. He was then commissioned by Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative to create a new original work with composer Christopher Weiss. The resulting piece, Service Provider, premiered at The Kennedy Center in 2015, and has since been performed by Urban Arias, Opera Memphis, Hawaii Opera Theater, and was selected as the first opera performed by the Lake George Music Festival.

John de los Santos has been a guest on 1 episode.