Ted Huffman, Writer & Director
Based in London, Ted Huffman is a writer and director best known for his work in contemporary opera.
His most recent opera with composer Philip Venables, Denis & Katya, commissioned by Opera Philadelphia, won the 2019 Fedora Generali Prize. Critics have called it "an intimate, haunting triumph" (New York Times), "a monumental, dramatically shattering event" (Parterre Box), and "the most brilliantly original operatic work I've seen in a decade…a sensitive, subtle and deeply questioning meditation on youth, voyeurism, and the age of social media" (Musical America).
Together with Venables, he has also written Alice for tenor and piano, based on tenor Daniel Shelvey's memories of his grandmother, and The Big History of Little England, a children's opera that tells the history of England from the Big Bang through Brexit in twelve minutes. They are currently at work on another full-length commission.
During the 2019/20 season, Ted will make directing debuts at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia, Opéra national du Rhin, and Opera Philadelphia as well as returning to Opernhaus Zürich, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, and Opéra national de Montpellier for new productions.
His production of 4.48 Psychosis (Venables/Kane) for the Royal Opera House won the UK Theatre Award for Best Opera Production as well as best production nominations for an Olivier Award, an RPS Award, and a South Bank Sky Arts Award. This production travelled to the Prototype Festival (NYC) and to the Opéra national du Rhin. His production of Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno for the Royal Theater Copenhagen and Malmö Opera received a Reumert Prize nomination and a Copenhagen Culture Award nomination for Best Opera and will play next year at the Opéra national de Montpellier. Other awards include the WhatsOnStage Award and an RPS Award nomination for The Lighthouse (Maxwell-Davies) in the Linbury Theatre and a Best Director nomination in the Opernwelt Jahrbuch for El Cimarrón (Henze).
Ted's past work includes Madama Butterfly (Opernhaus Zürich), Rinaldo (Oper Frankfurt), Salome (Oper Köln), Arthur Lavandier's Le premier meurtre (Opéra de Lille), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Opéra national de Montpellier), Luke Styles' Macbeth (Glyndebourne), Ana Sokolovic's Svádba (Festival Aix-en-Provence, Opéra Angers-Nantes, Les Théâtres de la ville de Luxembourg, Festival Ljubljana), Poulenc's Les mamelles de Tirésias (La Monnaie, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Dutch National Opera, Juilliard Opera, Aldeburgh Festival), and Ullmann's Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Central City Opera, Juilliard Opera, Greenwich Music Festival).
A native New Yorker, Ted studied Humanities at Yale University and apprenticed at San Francisco's Merola Opera Program. He was a MacDowell Fellow in 2017.