Ted
Huffman

Ted Huffman is one of the most sought-after opera directors and librettists of his generation, known for his bold contemporary vision and expressive storytelling. His work has been widely praised by the press and recognized with major awards from leading opera houses and festivals across Europe and the United States. Since 2026, he has served as director of the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.

Recent distinctions include nominations at the International Opera Awards 2022 in the categories “Best Production” (L’incoronazione di Poppea, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence) and “Best World Premiere” (The Time of Our Singing, La Monnaie). His production of Das Mädchen mit dem Perlenohrring (Stefan Wirth) for Opernhaus Zürich was named Best World Premiere of 2022 by Opernwelt.

In the 2025/26 season, Ted Huffman directs new productions of Otello (Opéra national du Rhin), Werther (Opéra Comique), The Cunning Little Vixen (Staatsoper Berlin), and Tosca (Glyndebourne).

His recent productions include Eugene Onegin (Royal Opera House, London), Oliver Leith’s adaptation of Britten’s The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor (Festival d’Aix-en-Provence), and We Are the Lucky Ones (De Nationale Opera Amsterdam and Ruhrtriennale), his fourth collaboration with composer Philip Venables, for which he also wrote the libretto.

His long-standing collaboration with Venables has produced several groundbreaking works. The Faggots and Their Friends Between Revolutions, based on Larry Mitchell’s cult novel, premiered at the Manchester International Festival and was subsequently presented at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Bregenz Festival, the Park Avenue Armory, the Southbank Centre, the Ruhrtriennale, and the Holland Festival, where it received acclaim as “irresistibly compelling” (The Guardian). In 2019, Huffman and Venables created Denis & Katya for Opera Philadelphia. Based on a true story, the opera won the Fedora Generali Prize and the Ivor Novello Award for stage works, and has been performed at De Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Staatsoper Hannover, Opéra national de Montpellier, and Music Theatre Wales. Critics described it as “a haunting triumph” (The New York Times), “refreshingly original” (The Telegraph), and “a ruthlessly original work” (The Sunday Times).

Their earlier collaboration, 4.48 Psychosis—the first operatic adaptation of Sarah Kane’s play—premiered at the Royal Opera House and was nominated for the Olivier, RPS, and Sky Arts Awards. It won the 2016 UK Theatre Award for Opera and has since been revived internationally. Alex Ross of The New Yorker described it as “a remarkable achievement” and said it was “hard to imagine a better staging.”

Huffman’s directing credits include productions at the Opéra de Paris, Oper Frankfurt, Oper Köln, Opernhaus Zürich, Opéra Royal de Versailles, and Deutsche Oper Berlin. His repertoire highlights include Street Scene, Roméo et Juliette, Orlando, Salome, Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno, Die Vögel, Les mamelles de Tirésias, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Born in New York, he studied Humanities at Yale University and is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. In 2017, he was a MacDowell Fellow together with Philip Venables.

His critically acclaimed production of The Coronation of Poppea returns to Oper Köln in the 2026/27 season.