Apply to Direct the 2026 Mainstage for the Harvard College Opera!

Stage Director –

Due 11:59 PM SUN. 3/23

Music Director –

due 11:59 pm SUN. 3/23

 

A Note on ELIGIBILITY

Only current students of Harvard College who will not have received their diploma before the beginning of J-term rehearsals and who plan to be enrolled in classes during the upcoming fall semester are eligible to apply for director positions. Harvard affiliates who do not meet these criteria who would have otherwise been interested in directing should instead reach out to signal their interest in senior producer, designer, and staff positions, as applicable. Any non-Harvard affiliates interested in contributing to the production in a backstage capacity should instead reach out directly to the Executive Board at harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com, who will work to determine the availability of suitable opportunities on a case-by-case basis.

How to Apply — Music Director:

Application Deadline: **SUN. 3/23  11:59PM**

To submit your application, please fill in this Google Form which asks for the following:

  • Artistic Résumé

  • Statement of Interest (max. 500 words; min. 100)

  • Optional: Past Conducting Videos

Once the application deadline has passed and we have received all applications, you will be contacted with a time slot  for your podium audition.

PODIUM AUDITIONS: SAT. 3/29 — Music Building Room 9

Your podium audition will be around 30 minutes long, and will be attended by current and former members of HCO’s Board of Operators and Executive Board. At the podium audition, you will work with singers, a string quartet, and a pianist. The podium audition will also include a brief interview at the end of your session. 

At the audition, you will be asked to conduct three excerpts:

  • Rehearsal Number 136-147 from Oedipus Rex

  • ‘O zittre nicht, mein lieber Sohn’ (up until bar 64) from Die Zauberflöte

  • Act 2 Scene 6 (rehearsal numbers B to G) from Don Carlo (1886 version)

Find the excerpted full scores for each selection available below in PDF form.

Within the audition, you will be expected to spend twenty minutes of your time conducting three excerpts and ten minutes in an interview. We encourage you to run through an excerpt first before walking through and giving notes.

A successful audition will demonstrate how you conduct and how you deliver notes/work with your musicians – we expect you to give notes as if you are in rehearsal.

Applicants who are not offered the Music Director position will have the option, at the ultimate discretion of the official Music Director, to become an Assistant Music Director for the production. Anyone who wishes to be an Assistant Music Director should email the harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com account to express interest. All applicants are of course also welcome to be involved in the production in any other capacity.

How to Apply — Stage Director:

Application Deadline: **SUN. 3/23  11:59PM**

To submit your application, please fill out this Google Form which asks for the following:

  • Artistic Résumé

  • Statement of Interest (max. 500 words; min. 100)

  • Your availability on 3/30 afternoon for interview

  • Optional: Diversity Statement (max. 200 words)

    • This should be your answer to the question: “What is a unique perspective you would bring to an HCO production, whether based in an underrepresented identity or culture, in exceptional skills or expertise, in niche interests or passions, or in uncommon knowledge or experiences?”

  • Optional: Style Statement (max. 75 words)

    • If you feel you have a very strong personal “style” or sense of coherent vision as a director that unites and influences all your work, please feel free to elaborate on that style here. For example, a director may have an exclusive preference for minimalist, modern sets, or a heavy emphasis on incorporating specific technologies into their storytelling, e.g. visual projection.

    • *Note: Please only submit this statement if your personal vision would involve making substantial revisions to the traditional stagings. We ask for this information only to be able to alert you to any intellectual property regulations you would need to incorporate or work around to realize your directorial vision with regard to particular operas — this will help us ensure you have all the information needed to create the best artistic vision presentation possible for your interview.

  1. Once the application deadline has passed and we have received all applications, you will be contacted with a time slot for your interview on 3/30. If you are unable to make a time on 3/30, indicate so on the Google Form, and we will work to find another available time.

    Interviews

    Your interview will be approximately 30 minutes long, will be attended by members of HCO’s Board of Operators and presided over by HCO’s Executive Board. 

    You will be asked during your interview to present an artistic vision for an opera you would like to put on at HCO, which you should prepare in advance. You will also be asked to run a short mock staging rehearsal on the following scene from Don Carlo:

    • Act 2 Scene 6 (rehearsal numbers B to G) from Don Carlo (1886 version)

You may use slides and visual aides to help present your ideas, but you are not required to do so, nor will your application be disfavored as a result of having done so or not.

* Please note that the choice of opera is a collaborative decision between the Stage Director and Music Director together, each of whom has equal say. Both directors should come to a mutual agreement with the assistance of the Board of Operators, which may or may not turn out to be the opera for which you presented an artistic vision. Likewise, the artistic vision you present may or may not be the one that you will actually realize even if you are selected as Stage Director and the opera on which you presented is chosen; your artistic vision should be well-thought-out and as accurate to your ideas and intentions as possible, but it does not carry any binding force if your vision should change in the months following the interview.

For the structure of the interview, you should expect:

  • An introduction and preliminary questions, lasting a few minutes

  • Your artistic vision presentation, lasting approximately 5-10 minutes (max 15), with Q&A of variable length during and after the presentation

  • Mock staging rehearsal on Don Carlo scene

  • Some additional questions from the Board of Operators, lasting no longer than 10 minutes

  • An opportunity for you to ask questions of us, lasting until the end of the interview

If you have any questions in advance of your interview, or if you anticipate not being able to schedule an interview during the window provided, please reach out to us immediately.

Applicants for Stage Director who are not offered the role are invited to reach out to the harvardcollegeopera@gmail.com account to discuss other opportunities to be involved in the production within staff, designer, and production roles, including the Assistant Stage Director role (at the ultimate discretion of the official Stage Director).