David McVicar

David McVicar was born in Glasgow and trained as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland). He was knighted in 2012 for his services to opera and made Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

His productions have been staged across the UK, including Le Nozze di Figaro, Salome, Adriana Lecouvreur, Aida, Les Troyens and Death in Venice, Andrea Chenier at the Royal Opera House; Der Rosenkavalier, The Turn of the Screw, and Medee at the English National Opera; Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg, Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Giulio Cesare at Glyndebourne Festival Opera and for Scottish Opera Falstaff, Pelléas and Mélisande, The Rake’s Progress, Così fan tutte, La traviata, Madama Butterfly, Der Rosenkavalier and Idomeneo.

He has worked extensively In Europe productions include Death in Venice (Volksoper in Vienna), Semele at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris; Der Ring Des Nibelungen, Cosi Fan Tutte at Opéra National du Rhin Strasbourg; La traviata Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona; La Clemenza di Tito Festival D’Aix-En-Provence; La Calisto, I Masnadieri at Teatro La Scala in Milan, Carmen at Royal Danish Opera House Copenhagen, Les Contes D’Hoffman at Salzburg Festival amongst others.

In the USA he has directed numerous productions at The Metropolitan Opera New York, including Fedora, Medea, Don Carlo (also Lyric Opera Chicago), Agrippina, Adriana Lecouvreur, Anna Bolena, Il Trovatore, Maria Stuarda, Giulio Cesare, Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci, Roberto Devereux, Tosca and Norma.

He has also directed Wozzeck, Elektra, Rusalka, Macbeth at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Andrea Chenier at San Francisco Opera; Macbeth, Rusalka, Medea at Canadian Opera; Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Faust at Opera Australia and designed and directed Falstaff at Santa Fe Opera.