About David Gately

Stage director David Gately is known for his vivid story telling and lively and clever productions. Last season his concert staging of Angels in America with the BBC Symphony Orchestra was praised for being “brilliantly resourceful” (This Is London) and it was reported that “Gately’s dynamic semi-staging made a strong argument for a full production of Angels.” (The Independent) With the Manitoba Opera his direction of Il Barbiere di Siviglia was said to use “nuance and creative physical comedy, resulting in a superb production brimming with energy.” (Winnipeg Free Press).

Recent productions of note include his direction of L’Elisir d’Amore with Dallas Opera, Madama Butterfly with Seattle Opera, La Bohème with Florida Grand Opera, Carmen in New Orleans, Les Contes D’Hoffman in Edmonton, Die Zauberflöte with the Cincinnati and Vancouver Operas, A Midsummer Night’s Dream with both the Florentine Opera and Glimmerglass Opera, Falstaff with Opera Omaha, and Rigoletto with Utah Opera. His hugely successful “wild west” production of Don Pasquale which was most recently hailed as a “contemporary classic” by the Denver Post has been mounted by San Diego Opera, Kentucky Opera, Opera Colorado, Calgary Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Virginia Opera, Dayton Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opera Omaha, Edmonton Opera and the Fort Worth Opera.

Mr. Gately spends the 2010-11 season directing La Bohème with Atlanta Opera, Lucia di Lammermoor with Calgary Opera, both Hansel and Gretel and Little Women with Utah Opera, Faust with San Diego Opera, and Giulio Cesare with Fort Worth Opera. Upcoming seasons include engagements with Opera Colorado, San Diego Opera, and Fort Worth Opera among others.

During the 2009 – 2010 season he directed Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Washington National Opera, Opera Colorado and Manitoba Opera, L’Elisir d’Amore with Atlanta Opera, Simon Boccanegra for its premiere with L’Opéra de Montréal, and the World Premiere production of Before Night Falls with the Forth Worth Opera where the Dallas Morning News wrote that he “supplies a physically gripping staging.” In addition, he directed Angels in America with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre in London for the United Kingdom premiere of the work.

Over the course of the last several seasons he directed productions of Hansel and Gretel with the Washington National Opera, Rigoletto with Arizona Opera, La Cenerentola with Atlanta Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte with the Florida Grand Opera, Carmen and Ariadne auf Naxos with Vancouver Opera, Don Pasquale with Opera Colorado Le Nozze di Figaro with the Utah Opera, Carmen with Austin Lyric Opera, and Luca di Lammermoor with L’Opéra de Montréal where his direction was called “elegant, realistic and almost balletically integrated with the music.” (The Gazette) In addition, he directed two productions with the Fort Worth Opera: La Cenerentola and Dead Man Walking, where he was praised for “his keen combination of insight and imagination…creating an aura of day-to-day reality on stage that in turn gave the opera its gripping emotional effect.” (Theater Jones)

His recent production of La Cenerentola with the Connecticut Opera was called “a triumph. It was funny and clever, full of youthful energy and razor-sharp musicianship. Stage Director David Gately was inspired. The placement and movement of characters onstage was clever and often allowed sound to move in stereo from side to side.” (Courant) At the Fort Worth Opera he directed the North American premiere of Angeles in America where he was praised for his “immense level of creativity,” (Pegasus News) as well as Lucia di Lammermoor where he was hailed for his staging which was both “savvy and sensitive.” (Dallas News)

Additional career highlights include directing Carmen and La Bohème with Florida Grand Opera, La Traviata, La Bohème, L’Italiana in Algeri, Little Women, Salome, Norma, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Falstaff, and Don Pasquale all with Fort Worth Opera, Das Rheingold at Ava, Sweeney Todd at the Brevard Festival, and Weill's The Tsar Has His Photograph Taken at the Fringe Festival in Boston. In addition, he directed Hansel and Gretel with Utah Opera, Don Paquale with L’Opéra de Montréal, Arizona Opera, San Diego Opera, Calgary Opera and Edmonton Opera, Les Contes D’Hoffman with Tulsa Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte with Kentucky Opera, Ariadne Auf Naxos, Orpheus in the Underworld, Kiss Me Kate and Madama Butterfly at the Brevard Music Colony, Der Rosenkavalier with Vancouver Opera, and The Turn of the Screw with the New England Conservatory.

He also staged productions of La Bohème with Vancouver Opera, The Mikado with Edmonton Opera, L’Italiana in Algeri with Central City Opera, Le Nozze di Figaro with the Academy of Vocal Arts, and the Seven Deadly Sins with Boston University. He directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream with the Florentine Opera, Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opéra de Québec, and Die Zauberflöte with the Shreveport Opera. Mr. Gately’s production credits also include Manon, Smetana’s Two Widows, Die Fledermaus, The Rape of Lucretia, Gianna Schicchi, I Pagliacci, The Merry Widow, Candide, Amahl, Don Giovanni, Otello Samson et Dalila, Aida, Turandot, La Fille du Regiment, Le Comte Ory, Lucia, Les Pecheurs des Perles, Lakme and The Ballad of Baby Doe.