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“It was impossible not to be swept away…Naamat’s staging, strong in its narrative clarity, had an understated brilliance.”

The Guardian

BIOGRAPHY

Opera Director, Noa Naamat is fast becoming one of the fresh and exciting voices to emerge on the international opera scene. A native Israeli, she has worked across the UK, Europe, America and Asia on a vast range of productions, from mainstream repertoire to world premieres. She is noted for her cutting edge vision, vivid imagery and bringing to life original and captivating interpretations.

 

Her recent directing credits include Henze’s Phaedra (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Benvenuto Cellini (Royal Opera of Versailles, Berliner Festspiele and Royal Albert Hall), Don Pasquale, L'elisir d’amore and Don Giovanni (Arezzo Opera Festival), Il matrimonio segreto (Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music), La voix humaine (Studiotheater Schloss Belvedere Weimar), Salieri’s Prima la musica e poi le parole (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and the world premiere of A Different Story (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden). Additionally, she has staged assorted opera scenes productions for Clonter Opera, Royal Academy of Music and a variety of opera festivals in Tuscany. Noa became the youngest director ever accepted to the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.  She made her house debut directing the Young Artists Summer Performance on the main stage.

Noa Naamat - portrait 3.jpg
Photo by Johan Persson, Royal Opera House
Biography

Before completing her MA in Directing at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Noa studied Theatre Practice at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, as well as Italian and History of Opera at the Accademia Europea di Firenze. She was the Apprentice Director at Lyric Opera Studio Weimar and at Oberlin’s Summer Opera Program in Italy. Supplementing her operatic work, she also held a directing residency at Shakespeare’s Globe, where she staged scenes from The Merchant of Venice on The Globe stage. 

 

Noa is dedicated to the development and training of young talents and has delivered classes and workshops for the Royal Opera House, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM), Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music. Noa has also worked extensively as an assistant and staff director for the Wiener Staatsoper, Scottish Opera, The Israeli Opera, Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar, Royal Opera House and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma

 

Among the awards and honors Noa has received for her work, her production of Benvenuto Cellini, in which she collaborated with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, won the Oper! Awards for 'Best Opera Recording'. Her production of Il matrimonio segreto was a winner of the National Opera Association's Opera Production Competition. Noa has also been named the distinguished Bayreuth Bursary from The Wagner Society and was the recipient of the Accademia Europea dell'Opera Stage Director Fellowship. Her production of Henze’s Phaedra at the Royal Opera House was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera

“With international rising star Noa Naamat in charge of stage direction, the drama proceeded at just the right pace, forward-driving and funny without lapsing into zaniness”.

Cleveland Classical

RÉSUMÉ

DIRECTING CREDITS

2021

Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Staatsoperette Dresden

2020

Opera Scenes

Royal Academy of Music

2019

Phaedra

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

2019

Benvenuto Cellini

Royal Opera of Versailles, Berliner Festspiele, Royal Albert Hall

2019

The Young Artists Summer Performance

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

2019

Opera Scenes

Clonter Opera

2019

A Different Story

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

2018

The Young Artists Summer Performance

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

2018

Il matrimonio segreto

Conservatory of Music, Baldwin Wallace

2017

La Voix Humaine

Studiotheater Schloss Belvedere Weimar

2016

Let The Bitch Burn

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

2016

Prima la musica e poi le parole

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

2016

The Merchant of Venice (Scenes)

Shakespeare's Globe

2015

Don Pasquale

Arezzo Opera Festival

2015

L'elisir d'amore

Arezzo Opera Festival

2015

Don Giovanni

Arezzo Opera Festival

2015

Opera Scenes

Accademia Europea dell'Opera

2014

Opera Scenes

Fubbiano Wine Festival

2014

Opera Scenes

Oberlin Conservatory of Music

SELECTED ASSISTANT DIRECTOR CREDITS

2019

Don Pasquale

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Dir. Damiano Michieletto)

2019

La Forza del Destino

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Dir. Christof Loy)

2018

Hänsel und Gretel

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Dir. Antony McDonald)

2017

Nabucco

Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Dir. Federico Grazzini)

2017

Lulu

Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (Dir. Elisabeth Stöppler)

2016

L’italiana In Algeri

Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar (Dir. Tobias Kratzer)

DIRECTING RESIDENCIES

2017-2019

Stage Director - Jette Parker Young Artist

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

2016

Directing Residency

Shakespeare's Globe

2015, 2016

Apprentice Director

Lyric Opera Studio Weimar

2014, 2015

Apprentice Stage Director

Oberlin Conservatory of Music

2014, 2015

Stage Director Fellowship

Accademia Europea dell’Opera

EDUCATION

2015-2016

MA in Directing

Royal Conservatoire of Scotland

2014-2015

German Intensive Course

DeutschAkademie Wien

2013-2014

Italian & History of Opera Studies

Accademia Europea di Firenze

2012-2013

Cert.HE Theatre Practice

Royal Central School of Speech & Drama

AWARDS & HONOURS

2020

Oper! Awards - Winner

'Best Opera Recording' (Benvenuto Cellini DVD)

2020

Olivier Award - Nomination

'Outstanding Achievement in Opera' (Phaedra, ROH)

2018

National Opera Association - Winner

Opera Production Competition (Il Matrimonio Segreto, BWU)

2018

Bayreuth Bursary Award

The Wagner Society in London

2014, 2015

Stage Director Fellowship

Accademia Europea dell'Opera

LANGUAGES

Hebrew

Native

English

Fluent

Italian

Fluent

German

Proficient

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