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AlisonPogorelcDirector
about alison
Alison Pogorelc is an American director of opera, theater, and film known for her innovative and multidisciplinary approach to storytelling.
In the 2022-23 season, she joined the assistant stage directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera and made her West Coast debut with a highly praised production of Paul Dukas’ Ariane et Barbe-Bleue for West Edge Opera. The production was selected as Best of 2022 by the San Francisco Chronicle and Mercury News. Alison also directed the Studio Showcase at Wolf Trap Opera and Handel's Agrippina at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She was recently honored with the National Opera Association's JoElyn Wakefield-Wright Stage Director Fellowship and OPERA America's Robert L. B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize for her concept of Strauss’ Salome.
Photos by Romain Mayambi
Alison moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, and began her artist diploma in opera directing at the University of Cincinnati. In her first year, she directed Joseph Bologne's comedic opera, L'Amant Anonyme (The Anonymous Lover), and assisted Robin Guarino on Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
A regular collaborator with Early Music Now in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Alison creates short films inspired by the music of the Medieval, Renaissance, and early Baroque periods. Their latest collaboration was released in December 2022 and can be viewed on Early Music Now’s website.
As a young artist, Alison has found a place to thrive at organizations such as The Glimmerglass Festival and Florentine Opera. She was a member of Glimmerglass' Young Artist Program in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, where she assisted on a new adaptation of Mozart's The Magic Flute and worked with the company's former artistic director, Francesca Zambello, on Verdi's Il trovatore. In December 2020, Alison also joined the Florentine Opera as their Resident Artist Director for the Winter & Spring 2020/21 season, assisting on the Bronzeville La bohème School Tour and assisting director Jill Anna Ponasik on Weill's Mahagonny-Songspiel.
In rehearsal at the Glimmerglass Festival,
Photo by Karli Cadel
In her theater work, Alison is known for her efforts to democratize heightened language and bring new audiences to classical works. She has adapted and directed the works of Harold Pinter and Seamus Heaney, and created and directed The Way Through Sorrow for the first ever fully virtual Rochester Fringe Festival. Alison has also directed readings of playwright Justin McDevitt's work for Poetic Theater Productions and the Fifth Avenue Theatre Festival.
Other assistant credits include: The Knock, Ariadne auf Naxos (Cincinnati Opera); The Rake’s Progress, Le Nozze di Figaro, Vanessa, Così fan tutte, Street Scene (Mannes Opera); Hänsel und Gretel, L’incoronazione di Poppea (Berlin Opera Academy); The Echo Drift (Prototype Opera Festival).
Alison Pogorelc received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theater, with a concentration in directing, as well as a minor in Literary Studies from The New School of Drama in New York City.
Behind the Scenes of Sleep Hath its Own World
Photo by Philipa Joy Kerr
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