Lee Blakeley Was Born in Yorkshire, England. He Studied at the Royal Scottish Academy Of

Lee Blakeley

director

Lee Blakeley was born in Yorkshire, England. He studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and at Glasgow University. He was awarded a 2007 Churchill Travelling Fellowship to study artist development and philanthropy in the USA.

This year he returned to Santa Fe for his second production there, THE PEARL FISHERS, and made his début in Toronto with LES CONTES D’HOFFMANN.

In 2011 Lee directed the French première of SWEENEY TODD at the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, with a cast including Caroline O’Connor and Rod Gilfry and music direction by David Charles Abel, and then COSI FAN TUTTE at the Royal College of Music in London, as well as INTO THE WOODS for the Royal Scottish Conservatoire.

2010 began for Lee Blakeley with the highly acclaimed A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC (with Leslie Caron, Greta Scacchi and Lambert Wilson) at the Châtelet – also a French premiere. It continued with new productions of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at Santa Fe and ORPHEUS AND EURIDICE for Minnesota Opera – where he will return in 2013.

Earlier British productions have included A LOVE FOR THREE ORANGES at the Royal Scottish Academy and the highly acclaimed A NIGHT AT THE CHINESE OPERA (Judith Weir) for Scottish Opera: it was nominated for the 2008 TMA “Achievement in Opera” Award.

He has been an Associate Director for the Royal Opera, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and English National Opera. Recently he has worked for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera New Zealand, de Vlaamse Opera, l’Opéra de Monte Carlo, Lille, Trieste and Tenerife.

In addition to several music theatre, opera and drama projects in development on both sides of the Atlantic, he is currently preparing a third production for the Châtelet, Paris, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, for 2013. He also returns to Santa Fe for a third production there in 2014.