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DAVID FARRAR, Opera Stage Director In David Farrar's career as an opera stage director, he has broken many barriers. He is not only the first African-American to direct the New York City Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Royal Opera, Covant Garden, teh Opera del Teatro Municipal, Santiago, Chile, and the Opera Theatre at Oberlin, but -- amazingly -- was the first African-American to stage Gershwin's complete Porgy and Bess in the United States. He was recently honored at the National Opera Association conference in Boston for his historic role as an African-American opera stage dirtector and received the 1995 Distinguished Director Award. His many opera productions have received acclaim both in the United States and abroad. As Fouding Stage Director and Director of Productions of the Virginia Opera Association, he was responsible for ten years of innovation and vitality, during which the company experienced a period of tremendous growth. In 1978, under Dr. Farrar's direction, the Virginia Opera premiered Thea Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots, which he subsequently brought to the San Francisco Opera and the New York City Opera. Indeed Dr. Farrar has the distinction of being New York City Opera's first African-American director. In 1982 he directed the European premiere of Musgrave's A Christmas Carol for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, in Londen, where he was the again the first African-American director for the opera company. That production was taped for television and distributed by Grenada TV. In the following years Dr. Farrar directed 32 operas in more than 60 productions on three continents. As comfortable with contemporary opera as with established classics, Dr. Farrar has directed productions in English, French, German, and Italian. Too numerous to mention, these run the alphabetical gamut from Menotti's Amahi and the Night Visitors to Mascagini's Zanetto. A native New Yorker, Dr. Farrar received his doctorate from the university of Southern California in 1971. He taught music history, theory, and opera on the faculties of the University od California, Santa Barbara, Lehman Colege of the City University of New York, the University of Washington, Seattle, and the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. In addition to a distinguished career as a musicologist and educator, he is also an accomplished bassoonist who has performed both as a soloist and as a member of the Santa Barbara Symphony Orchestra and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. At present he divides his time between a home and a studio in New York City, where he is writing two books -- one on the complex art of stage directing, and another based on his experiences as the first African-American opera stage director to acheive international status, with anecdotes from his debut at the New York City opera, Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and Opera Municipal de Santiago, Chile, among others.He also prepares artists for roles to be performed, recitals, and auditions, in addition to coaching operatic arias, scenes, and leider.
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