DIRECTOR
Mary Birnbaum is a New York based director of opera and music theater. In 2024, she directed critically acclaimed productions of Rigoletto (Lyric Opera of Chicago), Guys and Dolls (Opera Saratoga), and ÉMIGRÉ (World Premiere, New York Philharmonic). Other credits include new productions of La bohème (Santa Fe Opera), Dido and Aeneas (Juilliard, Opera Holland Park, Opéra de Versailles), L’Orfeo (Juilliard, NYTimes “Best of Classical Music 2021”), Otello (National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan), L’elisir d’amore (National Theater of Costa Rica) and many more.
In demand for her skills as a collaborator on new work, Birnbaum has directed world premieres by contemporary artists including Jeremy Denk and Steven Stucky (The Classical Style at Ojai and Carnegie Hall), Frank London and Elise Thoron (Hatuey at Montclair Peak Performances), Mark Campbell and Kristin Kuster (Kept at Virginia Arts Festival). She directed the premiere of Chris Cerrone and Stephanie Fleischmann’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera in 2022.
On the faculty of The Juilliard School since 2011, Birnbaum serves as the Dramatic Advisor to the MMGD program. She coaches at the Lindemann Young Artists Program at The Metropolitan Opera. In 2023, she became the General and Artistic director of Opera Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, New York.
A graduate of Harvard College, Mary Birnbaum trained professionally in physical theater at L’École Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
educator
On faculty at The Juilliard School since 2011, Mary helps singers listen to their dramatic impulse and connect to the moment in her current role as Dramatic Advisor to the Masters of Music and Graduate Diploma Program in the Vocal Arts Department.
She has developed curricula which include mask, ensemble and physical work, and has taught acting for singers at UCLA, Bard College, IVAI, Mannes/The New School, Santa Fe Opera, and the Lindemann Young Artists Program at the Metropolitan Opera.
A graduate of Harvard College, Mary trained professionally in physical theater at L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She completed the Harvard Business School CORe. Mary currently lives on the Upper West Side of New York City with her husband, Justin, her son, Jasper and dog, Greg. She is only able to continue to do any of this because of the amazing community of caregivers and family around her.
artistic producer
As the founder and Artistic Director of art.party.theater.company (2009-12), Mary produced events that engaged the audience in adventurous art. Audiences grasped flashlights to collectively light the Duchess of Malfi (Duchess in the Dark), became celebrities in Bryant Park (STARBOX), and turned the key to poetry salons all over NYC (SCHOOLED: or Moliere’s The Learned Ladies). In Paris, she produced and developed [se balader], a performance walk about nostalgia. She has collaborated with playwrights in the Soho Rep Writers/Directors Lab and as a Resident Director at Ars Nova. Mary co-founded and produced the artists’ accelerator program called The Greenhouse for the Orchard Project. Each year, 12 multi-hyphenate artists were selected to create performance experiences, with her guidance and coaching.
In February 2020, Mary translated an American version of The Barber of Seville, set in the early 1990’s in Seville, Florida. The fourth wall was as broken as Bartolo’s heart when the audience got in on the act at the “dream date” booths at Berta’s Tiki Bar, where they were served drinks and snacks during the show. She directed the premiere at Opera Columbus. She produced/co-wrote/directed the Feminist Pop Concert Baby No More Times, in 8 different venues from 2015-2019.
During the pandemic, Mary shifted her focus to digital productions. She directed the cameras and actors for the virtual Juilliard Gala and live virtual Commencement, coordinating over 400 remote students and alums, with over 20K viewers. For the gala, she directed an entirely digital version of Knee Play 5 by Philip Glass (reorchestrated by Nico Muhly) and enacted by Juilliard students and Lorraine Toussaint. She wrote the libretto for and directed the filmed opera Apart/Mental, a puppet murder mystery based on an actual theft in her building, with music by Ken Steen and co-direction by Anna Pool. With Julia Dawson, she devised the création lyrique Obscura Nox, a film of Mozart’s ”Exsultate, Jubilate” with interpolated music by composer Iman Habbibi. Both films are available on Helio Arts via the links above.
A member of the inaugural New York City Center Junior Board, Mary ran several fundraising events and cultivated donors from 2011-14. She developed and led campaigns for art.party each season, and delights in meeting donors, patrons and prospective donors for the arts everywhere she directs. In 2022, she completed her Certificate in Fundraising from BU and was mentored by Andrea Puente-Catan, Major Gifts Officer at San Diego Opera, as part of Opera America’s Women’s Opera Network Mentorship Program for Women Administrators. In 2023, Mary was named the General and Artistic Director of Opera Saratoga, founded in 1964 as the Lake George Opera Festival. Her first season in 2024 received critical raves and afforded the company a balanced budget for the first time since 2019.