Mary Duncan Director and Artistic Director
Mary Duncan has directed or choreographed over 70 operas at venues including The Kennedy Center with the National Symphony Orchestra: Der Schauspieldirektor, Bastien und Bastienne, and La clemenza di Tito; The Estates Theater in Prague, Don Giovanni with Prague Summer Nights; and The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Harvey Theater Lucretia. She recently directed a new interpretation of Stravinsky’s The Soldier's Tale by Spoken Word Artist, Wordsmith, with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra at Meyerhoff Hall. Past productions include the American premieres of Bizet’s La jolie fille de Perth and Nielsen’s Maskarade with Sarasota Opera and Luke Bedford’s Seven Angels with the Aspen Music Festival.
As Associate Artistic Director of the Berkshire Opera for nine seasons, she directed 15 opera productions. Highlights were the world premiere of Stephen Paulus' Summer, The Rake’s Progress, Turn of the Screw, Susannah, The Consul (released on CD by Newport Classic) La Cenerentola, La Traviata, and Carmen semi-staged at Ozawa Hall, Tanglewood with Denyce Graves.
Notable collaborations include the premiere of Time and Chance, the final play by Tony Award winning playwright Mark Medoff starring Academy Award nominee Kathleen Quinlan, the Rape of Lucretia with iconic designer Massimo Vignelli at BAM, (the Harvey/Majestic Theater) and The Magic Flute with designs by children’s book illustrator, Eric Carle, (PBS New England broadcast). Highlights from her long association with The Aspen Music Festival, include the Russian Avant Garde, Victory Over the Sun, Comedy on the Bridge, Renard, The Marriage of Figaro, Seven Deadly Sins, Trouble in Tahiti, Proving Up, by Mazzoli/Vavrek, and the American premiere of Bedford’s Seven Angels.
As Managing Artistic Director of Opera at Peabody Conservatory, Johns Hopkins University, she directs mainstage productions and oversees theatrical collaborations with the department of Historical Performance and the Opera Etudes program. Previous faculty and guest faculty positions include The Juilliard School, where she choreographed Vanessa and The Mighty Casey, The Shepherd School of Music at Rice University, and The University of Arizona. She is a graduate of Juilliard and did postgraduate study at the American Repertory Theatre Institute at Harvard University where she interned with Robert Brustein. Ms. Duncan is the recipient of a Sandoz Corporation grant for her adaptation of Wedekind's Spring Awakening, a project mentored by The Eugene O'Neill Music Theater Conference. She is currently co-creator and director for a new musical WESLEY which is scheduled to open Off-Broadway in June, 2025.