Glen Sheppard. Opera / Film.
Glen Sheppard is a director and assistant director of opera and a director and producer of film based in London and Berlin. Born and raised in London, Canada, Glen studied music from a young age and trained as an actor at Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto. Aside from his work in music and theatre, Glen has worked as a writer and on the industry side of international film festivals as well as in advertising. A TALE, produced by Glen with director Katrin Thomas, won the Grand Prix du Court-Métrage at Entrevues Belfort. Films he has made with his partner Fritz Polzer have screened internationally and won several awards.
Glen’s shift into opera began with observerships at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Braunschweig and the Canadian Opera Company with David Hermann and Christopher Alden. He has worked as an assistant and staff director at the English National Opera and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Danish National Opera, Bard Summerscape, assisting, amongst others, Christopher Alden, William Kentridge, Daniel Kramer, Netia Jones, Thaddeus Strassberger and Max Webster.
Most recently, he revived his performance Y IS A QUESTION I KEEP ASKING at HB55 in Berlin and premiered a new work, A L E X A N D R I A, freely adapted from Händel’s oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Vierte Welt in Kreuzberg. His adaptation of Strauss's SALOME, AUSSER SICH, premiered at ORi Berlin in September 2019. In February 2020, he directed a revival of Anthony Minghella's production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at ENO. UNE MYSTIFICATION, based on Debussy's Les Chansons de Bilitis with poetry from CP Cavafy and Frank O’Hara, was presented in Berlin in June 2020, a film version of which is currently in post-production.
Glen’s shift into opera began with observerships at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Braunschweig and the Canadian Opera Company with David Hermann and Christopher Alden. He has worked as an assistant and staff director at the English National Opera and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Danish National Opera, Bard Summerscape, assisting, amongst others, Christopher Alden, William Kentridge, Daniel Kramer, Netia Jones, Thaddeus Strassberger and Max Webster.
Most recently, he revived his performance Y IS A QUESTION I KEEP ASKING at HB55 in Berlin and premiered a new work, A L E X A N D R I A, freely adapted from Händel’s oratorio Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno at Vierte Welt in Kreuzberg. His adaptation of Strauss's SALOME, AUSSER SICH, premiered at ORi Berlin in September 2019. In February 2020, he directed a revival of Anthony Minghella's production of MADAMA BUTTERFLY at ENO. UNE MYSTIFICATION, based on Debussy's Les Chansons de Bilitis with poetry from CP Cavafy and Frank O’Hara, was presented in Berlin in June 2020, a film version of which is currently in post-production.
