Mo Zhou 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.
Mo Zhou directed our acclaimed fall 2025 production of Madama Butterfly, and she brought Puccini’s iconic story into the poignant world of post-Atomic bomb Nagasaki. We spoke with Zhou about the joy she gets from her work, and why opera a hit of “real” amid a world with AI.
What is your favourite part of the production process in opera?
Mo Zhou: “The rehearsal room, without question. It’s where everything is still possible — where singers, designers, and I are all discovering the piece together in real time. There’s a particular magic in the moment when a scene suddenly clicks and everyone in the room feels it at the same time. And then there’s the technical process, which is its own kind of alchemy — you will be surprised by the leaps this show takes from the rehearsal room to opening night. It’s the work of getting every department aligned, all moving toward the same vision. Opera is such a collaborative art form, and that shared discovery is something I never take for granted. I love every bit of it.”
What would be your opera "elevator pitch" for someone who's never been before?
MZ: “Opera is the most genuine form of human storytelling and expression we’ve ever invented. In this age of rapidly advancing AI, it may be the last truly handmade artistry left — with nothing filtered between a performer’s heart and soul and your experience as an audience member. Most first-timers walk out completely surprised by how moved they were.”
Yasko Sato as Cio-Cio-San in Mo Zhou’s production of Madama Butterfly, Calgary Opera, 2025. Photo: HarderLee Photography.
What’s an opera that’s on your “bucket list” to direct?
MZ: “Don Carlo, the original French version! And Turandot. For Turandot, I have a concept similar to what I did with Madama Butterfly: finding a real historical figure and social backdrop to ground the opera in, and reclaiming it from the distorted Eastern fantasy it has often been. Giving the story clear agency and an honest retelling feels like necessary and exciting work.
Out of the operas you’ve directed, what’s your favourite?
MZ: “That’s like asking a parent to pick a favourite child! My Butterfly with Calgary Opera is unforgettable — I had carried that concept for over ten years, and Calgary was the first time I saw that vision realized exactly as I had imagined it. I’m also a devoted baroque music fan, so my futuristic baroque-style La Calisto at Glimmerglass and Iphigénie en Tauride with Boston Baroque hold a very special place in my heart. And my most recent project, Stuck Elevator with Opera Grand Rapids, has been an unexpectedly poignant reflection on a Chinese undocumented immigrant and his struggle between the America he was sold and the America that received him. That one will stay with me for a long time.”