Award-Winning Stage Director Nicholas Muni Named Artistic Director Of A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute At UNCSA

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., June 2, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An award-winning stage director with experience on three continents has been named artistic director of the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA), Provost David Nelson has announced. Nicholas Muni's appointment is effective Aug. 11.     

"Nic Muni's artistic accomplishments, creative spirit, and passion for training young artists make him a perfect fit for the Fletcher Opera Institute," Nelson said.

For more than 30 years, Muni has directed opera productions across North America, in Australia and Europe. He has worked with New York City Opera; San Francisco Opera; Los Angeles Opera; Houston Grand Opera; Canadian Opera Company; Vancouver Opera in British Columbia; Victoria State Opera in Melbourne, Australia; National Theater of Prague; Opera Ireland; Tirolerlandestheater in Innsbruck, Austria; and the International Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Germany, among many others.   

In February, he designed the scenery for and directed San Diego Opera's Don Giovanni, earning the praise of Entertainment Today: "The penultimate scene is breathtaking, a testament to and consummation of Muni's able directorial skills."

This summer, he will direct Powder Her Face with Odyssey Opera of Boston and a new production of Don Pasquale for San Francisco Opera Merola program. In January 2016, he will make his debut with Florida Grand Opera in a production of Norma.

Muni is the recipient of six National Opera Association Awards, including four first place awards. He won best opera production from the Canadian DORA Awards. In Australia, he received a best opera production award for his work with Victoria State Opera.

Muni is also a professor of opera at The Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and at the Bard Conservatory of Music in New York.

A vehicle for advancing the career potential of exceptional young singers, Fletcher Opera Institute offers performance-based training at the graduate and post-graduate levels to several Institute Fellows and Scholars each year. Established in 2000, the Institute has received generous funding from the A.J. Fletcher Foundation, including $5 million in operating funds and $5 million in endowment funds. The Institute now has an endowment of more than $13 million, including a recent gift from the Fletcher Foundation in the amount of $1.25 million.

"We're grateful for the partnership we have with UNC School of the Arts to carry on the legacy of A.J. Fletcher and his love for opera through the A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute," said Damon Circosta, Executive Director of the Fletcher Foundation. "We welcome Nic Muni to the Fletcher Institute and look forward to his leadership there."

At UNCSA, Muni will hold the rank of full professor. He will oversee two opera productions per year, including the Featured Production for 2015-16.

"Muni joins a distinguished faculty experienced in mentoring young artists," said Music Dean Wade Weast. "I am confident he will lead the Fletcher Opera Institute in cementing its place among the nation's elite opera training programs."

Muni succeeds Jamie Allbritten, who resigned in June 2014 to become General Director of Piedmont Opera.

About Nicholas Muni

A native of New Jersey, Muni received his formal education at Oberlin Conservatory of Music in vocal performance, conducting and theater work, studying with Herbert Blau. He also studied voice in Washington, D.C., with the late Todd Duncan, who created the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess. He received a fellowship from the National Institute of Music Theater to study with renowned Metropolitan Opera vocal coach Alberta Masiello.

Muni has served as artistic director for two American opera companies: Tulsa Opera and Cincinnati Opera, and was principal stage director and artistic advisor to the Kentucky Opera.

At Tulsa Opera, he produced and directed two American premieres: Verdi's Le Trouvère  and Rossini's Armida, both of which were broadcast on National Public Radio's "World of Opera" series. His highly successful and controversial new production of La Traviata was purchased and presented by New York City Opera.

During his tenure at Cincinnati Opera, the organization doubled its company budget, expanded the repertoire, created new productions and launched a blended capital/endowment drive. Productions  included the world stage premiere of a triple bill of La Voix Humaine/The Seven Deadly Sins/Medusa and the North American premiere of a double bill of Der Kaiser von Atlantis/The Maids.

Muni served as Director of Drama with the Metropolitan Opera Young Artist Development Program for two years, and was on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts for 14 years. He continues to serve as a grant application panelist and adjudicator. He was on the recommending panel of ARIA (Awards Recognizing Individual Artistry), an organization providing individual grants to promising young singers. 

As a freelance stage director, he has directed more than 200 productions with companies in North America, Europe, and Australia. His fruitful relationship with the Houston Grand Opera and Seattle Opera has resulted in two acclaimed co-productions: Il Trovatore and Norma. Also for Houston Grand Opera he directed the world premiere of Jackie O, an opera based on the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. 

Muni has directed for the Canadian Opera Company, including Jenůfa, winner of a DORA award for best theatre production in 2003, and MacBeth, nominated for a DORA award for best production of 2006.

He has also directed for the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera and San Francisco Opera.

Muni made his European debut in 1993 at Stadttheater Gießen in Germany with La Fille du Régiment. He also directed at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria; Opera Ireland;  the International Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau, Germany; the National Theater in Prague; and Stadttheater Bern, Switzerland.  His production of Il Trovatore was awarded best opera production at the prestigious Australian Age Awards. 

Muni served as an assistant to two directors of international repute: with Jean-Pierre Ponnelle on productions of Lulu in Munich and Carmen in Chicago; and with Peter Sellars in developing his acclaimed production of Cosi fan tutte.

While he was a full professor and distinguished artist-in-residence at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music he performed various roles, including stage direction, production design and surtitles, projection design, adaptation, and English singing translation. 

Muni provided dramaturgy and scenic design for two ballets, and dramaturgy, adaptation, surtitles, projection, scenic and lighting design, and English translation for Glimmerglass Opera, San Francisco Opera Merola Program, and Boston Lyric Opera, among others. 

Celebrating its 50^th anniversary, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is America's first state-supported arts school, a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem ("The City of Arts and Innovation") in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system when it was formed in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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SOURCE University of North Carolina School of the Arts

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