Deborah Sanders

Arts Management

Omer Ben Seadia

Stage directors
Israeli director Omer Ben Seadia is known for her inventive, thoughtful, and socially conscious productions. While garnering a name for herself in the standard classic repertoire, she has also won praise for developing and promoting new opera all over the world. Ms. Ben Seadia’s upcoming projects include Lucia di Lammermoor at Israeli Opera, a revival of her world premiere production of The Snowy Day (Joel Thompson, Davis Pinkney) at Portland Opera, Tosca at Palm Beach Opera, La Boheme for Pacific Symphony and she directs artists of The Lindemann Program at the Metropolitan Opera in their Scenes production. 
Recent successes include  The Magic Flute at Opera Theater St. Louis, The Merry Widow at Calgary Opera, Thumbprint (Sankaram, Yankowitz) at Chautauqua Opera and at Portland Opera, and Tosca at Utah Opera.  Ms. Ben Seadia is deeply committed to the development and training of young artists, and teaches acting at the country’s leading young artist programs.

“One of the opera’s great scenes is the Te Deum, which takes place in the Church of Sant’ Andrea della Valle. As set up by stage director Omer Ben Seadia, it was a grandiose spectacle of religious devotion and secular hypocrisy that kept the focus firmly on the police chief Baron Scarpia and his malevolent plotting. Processions of choir members, priests holding giant crosses and monks paraded into the somber gray church to begin the Latin hymn, as Scarpia planned execution and sexual conquest over the grim tones of the orchestra.

 

Another famous scene came off as particularly effective, the gripping minutes in Scarpia’s office in the Palazzo Farnese, a grand room covered with faded frescoes of classical mythology. The orchestra, conducted by David Stern, brought grinding force to the ascending tones and bruising dissonances that signaled the torture of Tosca’s lover Cavaradossi, as Tosca’s wails communicated her anguish and Scarpia presided with vile mastery.

 

And appropriately for this gritty, realistic opera, under Seadia’s direction, the stage acting was subtle and cinematic, with none of the exaggerated, heavy-handed gestures that characterize many productions.” David Flesher, South Florida Classical Review, January 27, 2024 for Tosca at Palm Beach Opera

 

 

“Director Omer Ben Seadia’s staging captured not only the coziness of Peter’s home but—with the help of movement director Courtney B. Jones—the freewheeling fun of the youngsters’ antics in the snow. ” Steven Brown, Texas Classical Review, December 10, 2021 for The Snowy Day at Houston Grand Opera

 

 

 

“Director Omer Ben Seadia creates an air of the mystical and familiar in this rendering of the beloved tale.” Kathryn Olsen, Front Row Reviewers, May 9, 2021 for Le Tragedie de Carmen at Utah Opera

 

“Director Omer Ben Seadia developed clear intent for each character and created a series of touching scenes. She navigated the limits of concert opera with a few chairs, a desk and a toy boat. A chessboard-like floor defined rooms and gave the characters something to use as a maze and finally rip apart as the complicated plot reached its climax.” Harvey Steiman, The Aspen Times, August 24, 2021  for Aspen Opera Theatre’s Rodelinda

 

The staging by female director Omer Ben Seadia was sensitive, yet straightforwardly presented, balancing the boisterous joie de vivre and forthcoming romantic doom.”  Robert F. Adams, The Voice Magazine, November 16, 2018 for La Boheme at Opera Santa Barbara.

 

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