Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Previous to his appointment as Portland Opera’s general director, Mr. Mattaliano was the Artistic Director of the Pine Mountain Music Festival, in addition to his very successful career as a stage director.

He brings to the company an intense artistic vision honed from his extensive stage directing experience.  Prior to taking the helm at Portland Opera, Mr. Mattaliano directed five acclaimed Portland Opera productions — Manon (1991), Eugene Onegin (1992), Pagliacci/Carmina Burana (1997), Candide (2002), and Il Trovatore (2002). In 2004, his direction of Rossini’s The Journey to Reims opened his first artistic season in Portland to both popular and critical acclaim.  Since then he has directed The Rape of Lucretia (2005), Verdi’s Macbeth (2006), The Magic Flute (2007), Cinderella (2007), Albert Herring (2008), Rigoletto (2009), The Barber of Seville (2010), Pagliacci / Carmina Burana (2010), L’Heure Espagnole / L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (2011), Candide (2012) and Falstaff (2013).

Mr. Mattaliano has directed for The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera, the Canadian Opera Company, L’Opera de Montreal, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Dallas Opera, and Central City Opera, among many others.  His work has also been enjoyed internationally at L’Opera de Nice and the Norwegian National Opera.

He has directed world premieres of Hugo Weisgall’s Esther for the New York City Opera, jazz composer Fred Ho’s Journey Beyond the West for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Peter Westergaard’s The Tempest for the Opera Festival of New Jersey, and the American premiere of Veniamin Fleishman’s Rothschild’s Violin at the Juilliard Opera Center.

His passion for stage direction has extended to teaching at the Juilliard School, The Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program, Manhattan School of Music, Yale University, Princeton University, Mannes College of Music, and the New National Theater of Japan.  In 1996 his essay on auditioning (“The Dreaded Audition”) was published by Opera America.

Mr. Mattaliano received his BA in Theater Arts from Montclair State University with additional training at the Trent Park School of Performing Arts in London, England.  In 1998 he received the L. Howard Fox Visiting Alumni Award from his alma mater, as well as a National Opera Institute Stage Direction Grant.

Since joining the company, he has been in considerable demand on the national level, leading the keynote panel at the 2004 OPERA America conference and being named to the National Endowment for the Arts’ opera review panel.  Mr. Mattaliano served on Opera America’s Board of Directors from 2005-2011.