PRAISE FOR JOE BANNO’S WORK IN OPERA

 

“Banno’s vision works as a stunningly powerful and surprisingly ambitious presentation of Verdi's masterpiece….Imaginatively reconceived, this haunting production is first-rate by almost any standard”

—WASHINGTON TIMES

on OTELLO

 

“A refreshing departure from the tried and true.... Banno's creative update is a shockingly minimalist concept.  This aggressively mounted, intimate production works so seamlessly that audiences never will miss the grand-opera "Giovanni". A fine night at the opera.”

—WASHINGTON TIMES

on DON GIOVANNI

 

“A most moving production – by far the best acted opera I have experienced in Washington, thanks to Banno’s sensitive direction….

A must-see for opera fans.”

—WDCU-FM

on THE TENDER LAND

 

“An obsessive fantasy of dream and memory, Banno transforms Schubert’s song cycle into potent drama….”

—WASHINGTON POST

on DIE WINTERREISE

 

“A clever and eclectic premiere….Gourmet fare, all very rare and well-done, by an imaginative company of musicians, singers, dancers, actors – and Chef Jose Andres, who fed the audience during intermission….The surprises orchestrated by Banno are as crucial as the music.”

—WASHINGTON POST

on RE: NEW

Joe Banno has over 40 opera productions to his credit. Distinctive stagings in his signature style have reconfirmed Banno as a challenging and original interpreter of the art-form, as seen in his Iraq War-set “Otello” for Washington Summer Opera; starkly pared-down productions of “La Tragedie de Carmen” and Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti” & “Arias and Barcarolles” at Italy’s Alba Music Festival; emerging-singer workshops of “The Coronation of Poppea” (at San Francisco’s Carol Dyk Vocal Arts Studio) and “Das Rheingold” (at Source Theatre); a dance-infused staging of “Die Winterreise”, and a collaborative “Magic Flute” with Lebanese painter Helen Zughaib for DC’s innovative music-theatre-dance collective, The In Series (part of a multi-season Mozart opera cycle Banno directed for the company); and the chamber-music/haute-cuisine event, “Re:New”, with renowned Chef Jose Andres and the ensemble Musica Aperta.

 

Banno has had a recent run of successful shows with Opera Delaware, where he staged a period-set but sexily modern “Marriage of Figaro”, a time-traveling “Magic Flute” and a “Cavalleria Rusticana” & “Pagliacci” set in war-ravaged Fascist Italy.

 

He has written extensively on opera, as opera critic for the alternative-weekly, Washington City Paper, and as a classical music critic for The Washington Post, The LA Times, Opera Monthly and TheClassicalReview.com.

 

Banno has interviewed L.A. Opera Music Director, James Conlon, before a live audience at the Folger Theatre, and Washington National Opera guest-director, John Pascoe, on the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage.

 

He has taught acting to opera singers at Carnegie-Mellon University and at the Alba Music Festival, has directed young singers in several opera workshop programs, and has served as a vocal-competition judge on numerous occasions – most recently for the Partners for the Arts opera competitions in Virginia.