Ed Berkeley 1945-2021 | In Memoriam

The longtime faculty member, a director who mentored generations of singers, has died

By Susan Jackson

Longtime vocal arts faculty member Ed Berkeley, 76, died suddenly on July 17 in Aspen, a few hours before his latest Aspen Music Festival and School production, The Magic Flute, opened. The performance went on and was dedicated to Berkeley, who is survived by his brother, sister-in-law, and nieces and nephews.

A beloved opera and theater director, Berkeley joined Juilliard’s vocal arts faculty in 1987 and directed many Juilliard opera productions over the years. “His most recent gift to us was an inventive and witty production of Britten’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, produced joyfully despite shifting constraints of the pandemic,” Brian Zeger (MM ’81, piano), artistic director of Juilliard’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts, wrote in an email to the community. Zeger also noted that Berkeley “mentored generations of young singers at Juilliard and the Aspen Music Festival and School, where he had been the opera program director for 40 seasons.”

Born January 18, 1945 and raised in New York City, Berkeley earned his bachelor’s degree from Carleton College in 1966. His big break came in 1973, when producer Joseph Papp came to see a Midsummer Night’s Dream he was directing for the Shade Company Off Off Broadway. During intermission, Papp invited Berkeley to direct the New York Shakespeare Festival’s next production (The Tempest, which starred Sam Waterston as Prospero and Carol Kane as Miranda and was produced at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater). Over the years Berkeley, a founding artistic director of the Willow Cabin Theatre Company, directed its Tony- and Drama Desk-nominated revival of Wilder, Wilder, Wilder and also directed at the New York Philharmonic, Houston Grand Opera, Atlanta Symphony, Ravinia, the Library of Congress, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Old Globe, among others. In addition to Juilliard and Aspen, he taught at Circle in the Square Theater School, Carleton, Princeton, Williams, and Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra, among others. He was to begin a teaching stint at the Santa Fe Opera later this summer.

“Ed instilled in many Juilliard undergraduates—and young artists around the world—a love of text, an understanding of acting, and uses of the imagination,” Zeger said. “His warmth, intelligence, and gentle wit will be deeply missed.”

>Readers are invited send their reminiscences of Ed Berkeley to [email protected].

>The Berkeley family would like to direct contributions made in Ed’s memory to Juilliard’s Vocal Arts department. Please visit giving.juilliard.edu, or call 212-799-5000 ext. 309 to make a gift.