Opera Productions

Ordered according to the most recent performance of each show.

Salomé

Francisco directed this production in Valencia in 2010, with a concept that showed the dangers of abuse of power and spiritual emptiness well before the…
Read More
Nabucco opera show

Nabucco

After a year’s delay due to the pandemic, Nabucco opened at the monumental Sankt Margarethen stone quarry in July 2022. Reuniting the creative team of…
Read More

Il Trovatore (v2)

This is a the totally rethought indoor version of the previous outdoor production. Now set in a claustrophobic space but with the same focus on…
Read More

Jérusalem

Francisco’s production of Jérusalem, the French language opera by Verdi, opened in Bonn in January 2016 and was revived in Bilbao in November 2019, where…
Read More

The Snow Queen

The Snow Queen, a new opera by Hans Abrahamsen, had its world premiere in Copenhagen in October 2019 at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.…
Read More

Il Trovatore (v1)

In this production Negrin focused on making virtues out of the famously difficult aspects of the libretto. This resulted in unexpected emotional impact and theatrical…
Read More

Alcina

A coproduction between two totally different theatres (the new stage in Oslo and the old stage in Copenhagen) this show was quite a challenge stenographically,…
Read More

Idomeneo

Mozart’s favourite opera and a piece Negrin had wished to stage from the beginning of his career. Innovative techniques permitting the video mapping of a…
Read More

Mitridate (v2)

Negrin’s second production of Mitridate was conceived from scratch, unlike the previous one’s many adaptations to various venues. This show introduced a number of new,…
Read More

Thaïs

This production opened to long standing ovations. The piece was an unexpected surprise for audiences there as the production focused on showing the real beauty…
Read More

The Cunning Little Vixen

This was an innovative concept, being one of the first opera productions to be set 100% within an augmented reality world made of video mapped…
Read More

Werther (v2)

This is Francisco’s second production of this opera. Intent on making palpable every nuance in the extraordinary music, the concept, though quite traditional in appearance,…
Read More

Macbeth

This production seemed quite traditional in its visuals but surprised the audience by in fact telling the story in quite a novel way. Purists were…
Read More

Rinaldo (v2)

Francisco’s second production of this brilliantly visual piece, composed by Handel to show off scenic effects and delight audiences with vocal virtuosity and successful arias.…
Read More

L’Arbore di Diana

This show was conceived along with Francisco’s second production of Cosa Rara as a Martin y Soler mini-series, and shared the same design team. Both…
Read More

I Puritani

After directing Norma, also by Bellini, Francisco Negrin was very interested in directing another major Bel Canto piece but with a cast who would be…
Read More

Una Cosa Rara (v2)

This was Francisco’s second production of this opera.While the first was in the totally authentic theatre at Drottningholm and hence rather “in style”, this one…
Read More

Alceste

This production was conceived especially for Christine Brewer and, of course , for the very specific stage at Santa Fe.  Francisco Negrin took the piece…
Read More

Partenope (v2)

This is the second production of Partenope directed by Francisco Negrin. Using his experience of the piece but starting from scratch with a new design team,…
Read More

La Corte de Faraón

La Corte de Farón was a great challenge. How to stage a quaint and “naughty” cabaret-operetta from the start of the 20th century in a…
Read More

Orlando

The last in 12 years of collaborations with designer Anthony Baker who moved on to directing himself, this was Francisco’s debut at the Royal Opera…
Read More

La Clemenza di Tito

This was Francisco Negrin’s  second collaboration with Es Devlin.  The show opened the season at  the Liceo where the piece had amazingly never been performed.…
Read More

Norma

This production was blessed with many starry casts and been seen several times on television in two countries, and even been transmitted live to a…
Read More

Die Lustige Witwe

The challenge here was for a totally non-germanic director to direct a classic Viennese operetta , not so far from Vienna, and for a germanic…
Read More

Mitridate (v1)

Originally conceived for the very specific attributes of the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices (a converted power station in the middle of the river in Geneva),…
Read More

Temistocle

Francisco’s debut in Germany, and the first chance to work with his new Barcelona-based design team. Temistocle is the driest Seria style opera of the…
Read More

Orphée (v2)

Originally intended to be a revival of the earlier site-specific production done for Copenhagen (see Orphée v1), it was a challenge not only to rethink…
Read More

Giulio Cesare (v2)

Concieving a second production of Julius Caesar after his earlier Sydney one was such a hit was of course daunting to Francisco Negrin.  But with…
Read More

Kafka’s Trial

A new opera house, a new piece, new laser-driven remote control technology for the set, and the debut of a great conductor… Lots of innovation…
Read More

Leonore

First presented as Fidelio at the Flemish Opera, the production was then adapted to suit the slightly different ending of Beethoven’s first version of the…
Read More

Arabella

The intention of this production was to show the really lyrical and tender aspects of the piece. It presented the story as a Viennese Cinderella,…
Read More

Agrippina

As Santa Fe Opera’s own publicity for the following season put it, Agrippina turned out to be the unexpected hit of the festival, with audiences…
Read More

Don Giovanni

Francisco’s most controversial show up to that time. The Vienna version, pure. The real title, Il Dissoluto Punito. Zerlina’s path from purity to revenge, and…
Read More

Partenope (v1)

The combined magic of a little known Handel masterpiece with a rare connection between the production team, cast and conductor, had an astonishing effect on…
Read More

Fidelio

Presented at the Flemish Opera, this production, entirely concentrated on the idea of the protagonist as a bringer of light and altruism to a world…
Read More

Giulio Cesare (v1)

This is the production that started Francisco Negrin’s international career. It was a total hit that received rave reviews and blew away the unsuspecting Sydney…
Read More

Rinaldo (v1)

Another chance for Francisco to work with his “Handel team” (Harry Bicket, David Daniels, Lisa Saffer…etc), and to explore the possibilities offered by dance within…
Read More

Beatrix Cenci

It was a challenge to turn Ginastera’s chaotic but incredibly strong score and premise into a dramatic and emotive evening, but with the help of…
Read More

Der Freischütz

This was a coproduction between the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and Lausanne opera. The show then also was seen at ABAO in  Bilbao in a…
Read More

Orphée (v1)

A site specific production thought up for the wonderful electrical power station called Turbinehallerne that the Danish Opera used for a few years in Copenhagen…
Read More

Venus

This was one of Negrin’s most successful shows ever. The unknown but hugely effective piece, the great cast, the impressive designs, and a concept that…
Read More

Les Contes d’Hoffman

This production sadly had to be based on the Richard Bonynge edition of the score, which did not include all the more recently found material,…
Read More

King Arthur

Uniting the students of the Opera and Theatre departments of the Guildhall, along with Dance students from The Place dance school, this huge show (more…
Read More

Una Cosa Rara (v1)

This show was designed to show off the workings and original sets of the intact 18th century theatre in the Palace of Drottningholm in Stockholm.…
Read More

V.S.

James MacMillan’s Visitatio Sepulchri is a stage oratorio that was premiered at the Tramway theatre in Glasgow and then was part of the Edinburg Festival’s…
Read More

Tourist Variations

This piece was commissioned by the Traverse Theatre for Edinburgh’s main Festival . Francisco Negrin was asked to research young Scottish composers and he selected…
Read More

Double Bill

The little known Gounod piece La Colombe was a perfect and unusual companion for L’Heure Espagnole in this double bill staged for the students in…
Read More

Don Carlo

This was a new staging by Francisco, but devised using an existing set and existing costumes from an old John Copley production. It hence does…
Read More

Cosí Fan Tutte

This show was designed using a budget and time slot that were intended for the revival of an old production, so it was a very…
Read More

The Jewel Box

This piece was created by Francisco Negrin and Paul Griffiths using arias and ensembles Mozart wrote for singers to include in operas by other composers…
Read More

La Traviata

This was a production that Francisco Negrin prepared using the existing set and most of the costumes from a previous production by his mentor François…
Read More

Orlando Paladino

The second opera to ever be staged at what would become a very respected festival in following seasons. At that point, the terrace of the…
Read More

Janácek’s Diary

A semi-staged performance using only the artists’ performance skills and a few simple props Part of the South Bank Centre’s “The inspiration of Karol Szymanowski”…
Read More

Werther (v1)

Francisco Negrin’s first major production. With its very extreme concept the production went quite against the grain in Nice where it was strongly booed on…
Read More

The Fall of the House of Usher

This was a project developed with conductor Peter Ash, creating a performable version of Debussy’s unfinished fragments, staged in the very atmospheric Christchurch in Spitalfields,…
Read More