Stephen Barlow (director)

Stephen Barlow is an Australian born (1973), London based opera director. He was educated at Melbourne Grammar School and the University of Melbourne. He has directed operas for the Metropolitan Opera New York, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Opera Holland Park (London), Singapore Lyric Opera, Mid Wales Opera, British Youth Opera, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and University College Opera, London. He has also worked for the Royal National Theatre, London and the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) in St Petersburg.

In the Autumn of 2011 he staged the opening production of the Wexford Festival Opera's 60th anniversary season - La cour de Célimène by Ambroise Thomas. These were the first performances of the opera since its premiere in Paris in 1855 and this production was nominated for the Irish Times Best Opera Production Award.

In 2015 Barlow staged a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera in Bucharest, which was the Romanian premiere of the piece. In 2018 Barlow directed the same production at Folketeatret in Oslo which was be the Norwegian premiere of the show, and in 2020 Barlow presented the Greek premiere of Phantom of the Opera.