GMHC Presents:
Jay Lesenger, Producer
With a career spanning almost 30 years and 250 productions,
Jay Lesenger's stagings have been seen across the country and
in Europe as well. His debut with the New York City Opera was
Donizetti's Anna Bolena, followed in subsequent seasons by The
Magic Flute and Kurt Weill's Street Scene. Other productions
have included Der Rosenkavalier for Atlanta, Opera Pacific and
Opera Carolina, The Ballad of Baby Doe and Die Walküre for New
Orleans Opera and The Marriage of Figaro and La bohème for Opera
Nordfjord (Norway). Last season, he staged Macbeth for Opera
Carolina, and Thea Musgrave's world premiere opera, Pontalba,
for New Orleans Opera, celebrating the bicentennial of the
signing of the Louisiana Purchase. His acclaimed production
of Ariadne auf Naxos for Atlanta, Columbus, Milwaukee, Norfolk,
and Richmond was later televised by Wisconsin PBS. As Artistic/General
Director and principal stage director for Chautauqua Opera for
the last 10 years, he has staged more than 30 productions including
Verdi's Stiffelio, Donizetti's Mary Stuart, La Rondine and Fiddler
on the Roof. His work for the upcoming 77th season at Chautauqua
includes The Crucible, Madam Butterfly and The Music Man. He directs
The Crucible for Mobile Opera this fall followed by La Cenerentola
for Opera Carolina and Lucretia Borgia for Opera Boston next spring.
Jay has degrees from Hofstra University and Indiana University. For
five years he was an Associate Professor of Music at the University
of Michigan and is a nationally-recognized teacher of acting for
singers as well as a frequent judge for the Metropolitan National
Auditions.
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