Elizabeth Stepkowski Tarhan wishes you a Happy International Women’s Day!
This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating our extraordinary team of stage directors who bring our operas to life this season.
Elizabeth Stepkowski Tarhan joins us this spring to direct The Barber of Seville (APR 18—24), and she’ll return in spring 2027 for Verdi’s Otello. We asked her about her opera elevator pitch & her directorial wish list:
What is your favourite part of the production process in opera?
Elizabeth Stepkowski Tarhan: “My favourite part of the process is ‘discovery’. I am unable to distinguish one part of the process as my favourite, because every aspect comes with surprise and delight. When the set designer presents a floor that inspires staging ideas, or the costume designer finds that perfect fabric that embodies not only character but time and place, or a set of circumstances from 1853 are the same as we are experiencing today. When artists, music, and text come together exquisitely in a precise and unique way that can only occur at that very moment. Lights, gesture, props, the calling of a cue, all the work of realizing a production of an opera, brimming withdiscovery that further illuminates the intentions of the composer and librettist.”
What would be your opera “elevator pitch” for someone who’s never been before?
EST: “There is no more resplendent way to share a tale than opera. Composer and librettist create with care and intention an expression of our human condition. Then singers perform heroically with unique and emotive instruments while conductors influence the score and the orchestra in a singular way. Combine this expertise and virtuosity with extraordinary events, overwhelming orchestral music, artistry, and imagination in design, with the immediacy and risk of live performance, and the outcome can be nothing less than thrilling.”
What’s an opera that's on your “bucket list” to direct?
EST: “My bucket list for directing opera? The creation of new work. I wish to be involved in the discovery from the beginning, or very near. Also on my bucket list is Verdi and Shakespeare, which is being realized next season [with Otello, APR 16—24, 2027].
“Mostly, I want to tell stories about women from my perspective as a mature woman. We seem to move forward, but are we? It is not enough. I believe that creators of dramatic works through history would want me to call out the patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny. My faith in art and artists causes me to believe that this was their intention.”
Out of the operas you’ve directed, what's your favourite?
EST: “My favourite work is always the one I am currently engaged in. Experience, practice, research and learning continue my growth as an artist which I can apply to my current project. With each production comes more insight and ability. Striving for fresh and exhilarating ideas with friends I have had the privilege to work with again,while new collaborators energize my curiosity and expand my sight. The most exciting time is right now.”