Artistic Director
Yefim Maizel - Biography
Yefim Maizel is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Opera Academy of California. Mr Maizel has been engaged as a Guest Stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera since 1999. In 2010, he was Executive and Artistic Director for the Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI). He has directed and assisted in the former Soviet Union, in Europe, in Japan and in the U.S. at the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington Opera, Mariinsky Opera, Wexford Opera Festival, Saito Kinen Festival, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Pacific, Michigan Opera Theater and Opera Santa Barbara. METROPOLITAN OPERA Since 1999 Yefim Maizel has been engaged as a Guest stage Director at the Metropolitan Opera, where for many seasons he directed Madama Butterfly (Puccini) - with Placido Domingo conducting in 2004. He has assisted on productions of Wozzeck (Berg), Simone Boccanegra (Verdi), The Nose (Shostakovich), Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich), Il Trovatore (Verdi), Manon (Massenet), The Gambler (Prokofiev), Idomeneo (Mozart), Don Carlo (Verdi), Elektra (Strauss), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Otello (Verdi), The Queen of Spades (Tchaikovsky) and Das Rheingold (Wagner). OPERA ACADEMY OF CALIFORNIA In 2005, Mr. Maizel established the Opera Academy of California (OAC), a non-profit 501(c)3 educational organization, where he serves as CEO, Artistic Director and Stage Director. In December 2009, OAC's training program for children culminated in performances of a Childrens' Opera Program with scenes from Russian and French operas. In December 2008, OAC presented 3 performances of a Winter Season in Opera, with scenes from the rarely performed La Boheme by Leoncavallo and with scenes from Russian operas by Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky. March of 2007 featured Gems of Russian Opera, a performance and master class for singers that was open to the public. In celebration of Mozart's 250th Birthday, at the end of May of 2006, the Opera Academy of California presented Happy Birthday, Mr. Mozart!, an exciting evening of Opera Scenes from five Mozart operas. In January of 2006, OAC performed The Impresario (Mozart) at the Annual Gala of the East Bay Chapter of the San Francisco Opera Guild. In October 2005, Yefim directed first OAC's Opera Scene Program for Halloween -- Spooky Times: Witchcraft and the Supernatural in Opera. REGIONAL OPERA COMPANIES Besides working for the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Maizel directs at the regional Opera Companies in the US. In 2009, Yefim returned to Opera Santa Barbara to direct The Merry Widow, and in April of 2009, he directed a production of La Traviata (Verdi) at the Connecticut Lyric Opera. In 2006 -- 2008, he directed productions of La Boheme (Puccini) for the Livermore Valley Opera, The Merry Widow (Lehar) for the West Bay Opera and Un ballo in maschera (Verdi) at the Opera Santa Barbara. Previously, Yefim Maizel directed: Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky) at the Indiana University Opera; Something New For The Zoo (Hoiby) for the Cinnabar Opera; Madama Butterfly (Puccini) and Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) at the Opera Santa Barbara; Il Trovatore (Verdi) in Hungary; Die Fledermaus (Strauss), Carmen (Bizet) and Rigoletto (Verdi) at the Bay Shore Lyric Opera; Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Don Pasquale (Donizetti) and L'Italiana in Algieri (Rossini) at the West Bay Opera; a world premiere of Tales of the Nutcracker (Bohmler) at the Opera San Jose; Manon Lescaut (Puccini), Luisa Miller (Verdi) and Daughter of the Cabinet (based on La Fille de Madame Angot, by Lecocq) at the Berkeley Opera; Il Trovatore (Verdi) and Das Rheingold (Wagner) for the San Francisco Lyric Opera. SAN FRANCISCO OPERA From 1993 to 2001, Yefim Maizel worked as an assistant stage director for the San Francisco Opera productions of Pique Dame (Tchaikovsky), Ruslan and Lyudmila (Glinka), Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Faust (Gounod), Rusalka (Dvorak), Prince Igor (Borodin), Eugene Onegin (Tchaikovsky), Betrothal in a Monastery (Prokofiev), The Tsar's Bride (Rimsky-Korsakov) and Simon Boccanegra (Verdi). BAY AREA SUMMER OPERA THEATRE INSTITUTE Mr. Maizel worked as the Artistic and Executive Director of Bay Area Summer Opera Theater Institute (BASOTI), successfully leading the Institute through its 18th season in the summer of 2010. He has been a member of the faculty of BASOTI since 1998 and directed program productions of La Calisto (Cavalli), Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), Silla (Handel), Dialogues des Carmelites (Poulenc), Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Les Bavards (Offenbach), Little Women (Adamo), Riders to the Sea (Vaughan Williams), Suor Angelica (Puccini), The Impresario (Mozart), and numerous scenes from different operas. CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY AT SACRAMENTO In the Fall of 2007, Yefim joined the Faculty of the Music Department at the California State University at Sacramento. He worked with the students on the Opera Scenes Program which was performed on the 10th and 16th of December 2007. ACTING STUDIO FOR SINGERS IN SAN FRANCISCO Mr. Maizel spends a great deal of time working with young singers. He has a studio in San Francisco where he coaches singers on audition techniques and prepares them for performance of an aria, scene or a complete role. Yefim regularly leads workshops and master classes for singers with invited audiences. He also teaches opera appreciation classes for those who would like to enhance their knowledge and enjoyment of opera. |