Stephen Medcalf (director)

Stephen Medcalf (born 1958) is a British stage director, particularly known for his opera productions, both in the UK and abroad. He received the Italian music critics' prize, Premio Abbiati, for "Best Director" in 2005. Medcalf is married to the British soprano Susan Gritton.

Medcalf was born in Farnham Common, Buckinghamshire and attended Nottingham University where he read economic and social history. While at Nottingham he sang in the university's opera group chorus and directed a production of Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore at the New Theatre. After graduation, he did further training as a stage director at the London Drama Studio. His first job was in stage management at the Royal Northern College of Music. He then worked at Glyndebourne Festival Opera which he describes as the place where he "learnt his craft and trade" working as an assistant director under Peter Sellars and Peter Hall. His first production for Glyndebourne as the original director was the 1994 Le nozze di Figaro which inaugurated the festival's new opera house and was later released on DVD.

From 1991 to 1997, Medcalf was Director of Productions at English Touring Opera, producing Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, Orfeo ed Euridice, Rigoletto, Le nozze di Figaro, and L'elisir d'amore for the company. He married the soprano Susan Gritton in 1993, shortly after his production of L'elisir in which she sang the role of Adina. She has since sung leading roles in several of his productions including Tatyana in Grange Park Opera's 2013 Eugene Onegin. His original ETO production of L'elisir, which set the story in the American Mid-West, has subsequently been revived many times in Australia.

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