Ben Robinson is the General Director of Anchorage Opera and the Managing Director of Lyric Fest, Philadelphia’s acclaimed art song series. As a stage director, he is best known for his “inspired” and “engaging storytelling” in diverse works ranging from Baroque to modern.
He directed the internationally acclaimed film, Gianni Schicchi, for Opera Ithaca in 2020, which Opera Magazine heralded as the “deftest use… of Covid-era technology as part of modern operatic reality.” In February 2023, his “moving, visually daring” (Opera News) Julia Child-inspired Hansel and Gretel film joined the Opera Philadelphia Channel and was subsequently streamed at outdoor events for the company in September 2023.
Directing highlights include Nabucco for the Opera Ithaca Festival, L’elisir d’amore for Anchorage Opera, a cruise ship setting of L’Italiana in Algeri for St. Petersburg Opera (nomination for Best Director, Theatre Tampa Bay), The Pirates of Penzance for Ithaca College, Così fan tutte for Cedar Rapids Opera, Ariodante (First Place, Division V, National Opera Association) and Hänsel und Gretel for Temple University, The Medium (Amarillo Opera), La Cenerentola (Raylynmor Opera), and the world premiere of Sally Lamb McCune’s We Wear the Sea Like a Coat (Opera Ithaca/Ithaca College).
Projects for the 2024-2025 season include Così fan tutte for Opera Ithaca, Mozart in the Museum (his newly developed adaptation of The Impresario) and Madama Butterfly for Anchorage Opera, Cendrillon (Massenet) for Cedar Rapids Opera, and L’Italiana in Algeri for Opera in the Heights.