BRIAN STAUFENBIEL
DIRECTOR
BIOGRAPHY
Brian Staufenbiel is the creative director for Opera Parallèle where he has directed and created the conceptual designs of the company’s productions since it was founded in 2010. Specializing in multimedia, immersive, and interdisciplinary productions, he actively works across a wide range of artistic disciplines collaborating in film and with media designers, choreographers and dancers, circus artists, and designer fabricators. His progressive approach to stagecraft has garnered critical acclaim for many of the company’s productions, including Wozzeck, Orphée, Champion, Dead Man Walking, and The Shining.
Next season includes a world premiere production of Cuomo and Patrick’s Doubt with Opera Parallèle and Philip Glass’ La Belle et la Bête at Cal Performances, with reprisal productions of The Shining at Portland Opera, Utah Opera and Opera Tampa, and Fellow Travelers at Pittsburgh Opera. Last season included world premiere productions of Hanlon and Fleischmann’s Pigeon Keeper, Wallace and Korie’s Harvey Milk Reimagined, and Talbot and Scheer’s Everest at the Planetarium.
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Recent works include OP’s west coast premiere of Fellow Travelers by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Greg Pierce and Golijov’s Ainadamar for L’Opera de Montréal and Pacific Opera Victoria. Other recent works included new productions of Moravec and Campbell’s The Shining and Birds and Balls; the west coast premiere of composer David T. Little and librettist Royce Vavrek’s Vinkensport and the World Premiere of composer Laura Karpman and librettist Gail Collins’ Balls. In collaboration with choreographer Yayoi Kambara, Mr. Staufenbiel co-directed IKKAI, a dance installation about Japanese incarceration camps in the United States during World War II, which was performed at Georgia Tech.
Staufenbiel created a new production of Elektra for Minnesota Opera. His 2016 production of Das Rheingold for Minnesota Opera was reprised at Arizona Opera, L’Opéra de Montréal, Calgary Opera, and opened the 60th season at Seattle Opera in 2023. It was named a Star Tribune Classical Pick of the Decade. Other projects include the premiere of Miguel Zenon’s Golden City Suite with SF JAZZ, and a new production of Gordon Getty’s Usher House and Canterville Ghost for the Center of Contemporary Opera in NY and LA Opera.
Active in film direction, Staufenbiel recently directed and co-produced Flicka, a new documentary about the life of Frederica Von Stade with Paper Wings Films, and the dance film Out of the Dust which screened at the 2024 SF Dance Film Festival. He has created films for the Sun Valley Music Festival, a film of Dove/Angelis’ Flight for Seattle Opera, an award-winning graphic novel film of Talbot/Scheer’s Everest with Opera Parallèle, and a feature-length film of Gordon Getty’s opera Goodbye Mr. Chips.
Staufenbiel enjoys an ongoing relationship with composer Philip Glass, having directed many of his operas including In the Penal Colony for Glass’ own festival. The production is currently streaming on a new platform, Philip Glass Days and Night’s Festival Presents, and was named a New York Times Top Ten pick. He recently finished the Cocteau Trilogy with Opera Parallèle’s acclaimed production of La belle et la bête.
Staufenbiel recently left his position after seventeen years as the director of the opera program at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he mounted a wide spectrum of award-winning productions ranging from traditional operas to commissioned works for the program. Staufenbiel holds degrees in Philosophy and Music including a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music and currently resides in San Francisco and Paris.
Current as of October 6, 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"Opera Parallèle succeeded handsomely..." – Opera Today
Harvey Milk Reimagined – "Though these smaller operatic resources may be required for Harvey Milk Reimagined it is still a formidable
undertaking for any opera company, large or small. Opera Parallèle succeeded handsomely with its own production, staged by Opera Parallèle’s creative director Brian Staufenbiel, the complex score solidly realized by its general/artistic director, conductor Nicole Paiement."
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"...a fluid production..." – Parterre
Harvey Milk Reimagined – "Director Brian Staufenbiel and set designer Jacquelyn Scott shaped a fluid production centered on rolling staircases that enabled seamless transitions across the story’s key locales, while David Murakami’s projections—ranging from abstract scenic imagery to archival footage—anchored the staging most effectively when portraying the historical and emotional landscape of Milk’s Castro."
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"...unobtrusively clear direction..." – San Francisco Chronicle
The Pigeon Keeper – "Brian Staufenbiel’s unobtrusively clear direction supports the drama and fits well with the fairy-tale qualities of the
story."
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"...clever and appealing..." – Cordell Reports
The Pigeon Keeper – "Opera Parallèle’s production could not be more fitting and effective with superb singing and musical support by the
Nicole Paiement conducted eight-musician orchestra as well as Brian Staufenbiel’s clever and appealing creative design."
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"...adept direction..." – San Francisco Chronicle
Fellow Travelers – "Under Brian Staufenbiel’s adept direction, the opera’s cinematic cuts, dissolves and crowd scenes come off smoothly
and effectively."
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"...outstanding..." – San Francisco Classical Voice
Fellow Travelers – "Opera Parallèle’s production, the West Coast premiere of Fellow Travelers, is yet another outstanding effort from the
company, with exceptional vocalism and acting from all of the principals, excellent direction by OP Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel, and fine leadership from guest conductor Jaymes Kirksey."
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"Staufenbiel’s production is endlessly inventive..." – San Francisco Classical Voice
Birds & Balls – "Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel’s production is endlessly inventive, using video (both live and pre-recorded) to broaden the scale of the action and making inventive use of all the space in SFJazz Center’s Miner Auditorium. He frames the double bill as a broadcast on the old ABC “Wide World of Sports” show, with some apt puns for flavor, and gives the whole presentation a bright visual sheen."
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"You can picture Staufenbiel’s enthusiasm in dealing with such creative wealth and diversity." – Cordell Reports
The Shining – "Opera Parallèle has built its following based on three pillars – its deft selection of interesting underperformed or new
material; the precise musical direction and conducting of Maestra Nicole Paiement; and the clever and original staging of Creative Director Brian Staufenbiel. The innovative OP has developed the first new production of “The Shining” with two partners, and it’s a treasure to see and hear – a visual phantasmagoria to fit the portentous score. However, the distinguishing feature of the production is the imaginative staging. You can picture Staufenbiel’s enthusiasm in dealing with such creative wealth and diversity.
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"... magnificent..." – San Francisco Chronicle
La Belle et la Bête – “In Opera Parallèle’s magnificent new production, which opened an all-too-brief four-performance run at SFJazz on Thursday, July 14, director Brian Staufenbiel and a team of ingenious collaborators add layer upon layer to the original material until it sparkles and swirls like a disco ball. Wherever you look, wherever you listen, the result is an all-enveloping feast for ears and eyes alike."
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“... brilliant…” – Opera News
Elektra – “Stage director and production designer Brian Staufenbiel put Strauss’s opera in a new frame, creating a parallel story that overlaid the familiar opera version of the Greek tragedy. . . Among the brilliant strokes of this production …was putting the orchestra on stage… This new take on Elektra makes the characters less mythic and more human. It also adds occasional comic relief, in a tasteful way, and some useful onstage action in an opera that doesn't have much."
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"... riveting from beginning to the end…” – La Scena Musicale
Das Rheingold – “The first time Wagner’s Das Rheingold is staged in Montreal is a success. As a whole, this is Opéra de Montréal’s best production in the last two and a half years, riveting from beginning to the end.”
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"... an eloquent theatrical experience..." – LA Weekly
Usher House / The Canterville Ghost – “Collectively, L.A. Opera’s Off Grand presentation of Scare Pair, under the direction of Brian Staufenbiel, was an entertaining hybrid of spooky stories and opera, providing fans of scary stories with an eloquent theatrical experience and fans of opera with a particularly colorful program.”