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About

Cori Ellison has served as staff dramaturg at Glyndebourne Festival Opera since 2012 and New York City Opera (1997-2010), as well as dramaturg on productions including Orphic Moments at National Sawdust/Salzburger Landestheater, the Ring cycle at Washington National Opera, Opera Boston’s production of Shostakovich’s The Nose, and a triple bill of Offenbach operettas at the Bard Festival.

She has been a faculty member at American Lyric Theatre and has mentored its artists since its founding. She is a sought-after collaborator in the development of new operas for commissioners including Opera Philadelphia, Canadian Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Netherlands Opera, Beth Morrison Projects, Fort Worth Opera, Glyndebourne, New York City Opera’s annual VOX American Opera Showcase, and Yale Institute for Music Theatre.

Dedicated to nurturing young singers, Ellison teaches at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program for Singers and the Crested Butte Opera Studio, and has taught master classes at venues including University of Toronto, Mannes, Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Boston University, and the University of Texas at Austin. She has led seminars for the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program, serves as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, and coaches singers privately.

Her English singing translation of Hansel and Gretel, premiered by New York City Opera, has been performed throughout the U.S. She has also authored singing translations of Shostakovich’s Cheryomushki (Cherry Tree Towers), premiered at the Bard Festival, and Spontini’s La vestale, premiered at English National Opera.

Ellison has presented talks and appeared on panels and symposiums throughout the U.S. and Europe, including at Santa Fe Opera, Park Avenue Armory, the Met Opera Guild, San Francisco Opera Guild, Carnegie Hall, Opera Orchestra of New York, Schomburg Center for Black Culture, Guggenheim Museum’s Works and Process Series, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Wagner Societies of New York, Chicago, Washington, and Northern California, American Institute for Verdi Studies, Royal Opera House/Covent Garden, Ireland’s Wexford Festival, and Switzerland’s Verbier Festival.

Ellison is part of the team that launched the Metropolitan Opera’s pioneering simultaneous translation system, Met Titles, and has authored opera supertitles for companies worldwide. She regularly appears as a commentator and quiz panelist on the Metropolitan Opera’s radio broadcasts, and has contributed articles to publications including The New York Times, The Guardian, Opera News, Gramophone, BBC Music, Ms, The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, The Compleat Mozart, and the Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video.