An American Dream

Richard Gammon (he/him), a Filipino American stage director, directed the double bill of Gluck’s L’île de Merlin and Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Wolf Trap Opera; Madama Butterfly with Virginia Opera; the double bill of Gianni Schicchi and Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost at Michigan Opera Theatre; the American premiere of Scarlatti’s Erminia at the Kennedy Center with Opera Lafayette; Laura Kaminsky’s As One with the Opera Maine Studio Artist Program; Susannah with Charlottesville Opera; Jack Perla’s An American Dream with Virginia Opera’s inaugural contemporary opera series “VAriations”; and Andy Monroe’s The Life and Times of Joe Jefferson Benjamin Blow at NYC’s Theatre 315 with the National Asian Artists Project. At the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival he directed Much Ado About Nothing after having previously directed a touring production of The Tempest; and for Cleveland Play House’s film The CARE Monologue Project Richard directed monologues written by Rajiv Joseph, Lloyd Suh, Karen Zacarias, Tanya Saracho, and Matthew Lopez. He directed the world premiere of Jorge Sosa’s electronic opera The Lake at ArtSounds in Kansas City; Trouble in Tahiti with Paul Watkins at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival; the workshop of J Ashley Miller’s pop opera Echosis with Atemporchestra; and was Associate Director for The Grapes of Wrath at Michigan Opera Theatre and Porgy and Bess with Greensboro Opera.
Richard is the director of the Opera Maine Studio Artist Program and productions he has directed there include Jack Perla’s An American Dream (East Coast premiere), Mohammed Fairouz’s Sumeida’s Song, Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers, Trouble in Tahiti, The Medium, and a site-specific production of Gianni Schicchi at SPACE Gallery. He is also the co-founder and director of Art with Arias, an annual collaborative recital series partnering artists from the Opera Maine Studio Artist Program with the Portland Museum of Art.

Richard also enjoys working with young artists at leading conservatories and universities. He has recently accepted the position as Director of Opera at the University of Northern Iowa and has directed Dido and Aeneas, Monteverdi’s Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda as well as creating and directing an annual collaborative recital program between UNI Opera and the UNI Gallery of Art entitled In The Studio. Other conservatory/university productions include Hindemith’s Sancta Susanna and Rorem’s Three Sisters who are Not Sisters at the Manhattan School of Music; the world premiere of Jorge Sosa’s liturgical drama Tonantzin at the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance; Silent Night, La traviata, Sweeney Todd, La bohème, Così fan tutte, and Ward’s The Crucible (cancelled midway through the process due to COVID-19) with the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre; and Sankaram’s Looking At You, Ward’s Roman Fever, and Hilliard & Boresi’s The Filthy Habit at Carnegie Mellon University.

Other creative positions include Creative Associate for the world premiere of Dream’d in a dream with Seán Curran Company at BAM Next Wave Festival, an Artist Resident at Hewnoaks Artist Colony (2018) and the Institute for American Art (2017), Resident Assistant Director at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (2016-2018), and an Assistant Director at LA Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Wolf Trap Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Palm Beach Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Virginia Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Charlottesville Opera, Opera North, and Opera Maine working on productions that include the world premieres of Jack Perla’s Shalimar, the Clown; Terence Blanchard’s Champion; Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 and Rappahannock County; Jorge Martin’s Before Night Falls; and the American premieres of Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland; and Jacques Ibert’s Persée et Andromède.

Upcoming productions include An American Dream with Opera Santa Barbara, Albert Herring and the double bill of The Impresario and Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg with the Princeton Festival, and Philip Glass’ The Fall of the House of Usher with the Opera Maine Studio Artist Program. Richard is also currently collaborating with composer Jorge Sosa and librettist Melisa Tien on a new opera scheduled to premiere in the Spring of 2023.