Biography
Bruno Ravella is an international opera director based in London. Born in Casablanca, Morocco, of Italian and Polish parents, Bruno Ravella studied in France then moved to London in 1991 upon graduation.
Ravella has recently directed Ariadne auf Naxos at Garsington Opera (summer 2023). This is his fourth production there, following Der Rosenkavalier (2021), a co-production with Irish National Opera (2023) and Santa Fe Opera (2024), Falstaff (2018) and Strauss’ Intermezzo (2015). Before that, he directed Verdi’s Stiffelio at the Opéra de Dijon (2022), a revival of his production for the Opéra National du Rhin and the French production premiere of the piece.
Directing credits include Rigoletto (Opera Theatre of St Louis, USA), La Boheme (Opera di Firenze, Italy), La Belle Hélène and L’heure espagnole/Gianni Schicchi (Opéra national de Lorraine, France), Werther (Opéra de Quebec, Opéra de Montpellier, Opéra de Marseille), Madam Butterfly, Macbeth, Agrippina, Falstaff and La traviata (Iford Arts, UK), Giulio Cesare and La Traviata (Stand’été Moutier, Switzerland), Carmen (Riverside Opera, UK), Charpentier’s La Descente d’Orphée aux enfers and Blow’s Venus and Adonis (Les Arts Florissants, France).
Read moreReviews
“On the strength of this show alone, both Ravella and McCann should become very busy over the next few years…”
“And it is the detail of Ravella’s direction that impresses as much as McCann’s sets. Garsington has showcased his work before – Intermezzo in 2015, Falstaff in 2018 – and this Rosenkavalier confirms what we learnt from those productions: Ravella (a former assistant of John Cox) is a director with a deep understanding of the craft of opera production, and an appreciation of tradition, yet with plenty of new ideas of his own…”
“The director’s handling of the Act 3 Inn antics before the Marschallin’s unexpected reappearance was one of the most amusing and inventive I have seen, at the point where Strauss’s musical inspiration falls back on notational doodling…”
“This unforgettable production, so full of glorious detail, cries out for a revival.”
“After his charming Intermezzo (Strauss) and Falstaff (Verdi) here, the director Bruno Ravella treads a fine line between novelty and tradition, his designer between opulence and ostentation…Ravella and McCann respect the opera’s iconography but tease the audience…. It’s an updating, but one that never undermines the emotional landscape of Strauss’s nostalgic score…The detail of Ravella’s direction makes this Rosenkavalier special, for though he makes few radical departures from the narrative of this 20th-century fairytale, his production is full of delightful twists…All good, clean fun that enlivens the action where Strauss’s musical inspiration threatens to run dry.”
“True, these were tiny moments in a four-hour drama. But Der Rosenkavalier is all about unspoken connections, and instants that contain eternities. Ravella’s knack for reimagining these details before delicately joining them up lifted a fairly straightforward production into something that sang.”