Brian Macdonald

Director Brian Macdonald returns to the COC for Madama Butterfly. He has staged COC productions of La Traviata, as well as Madama Butterfly in 1990, 1994, 1997, and 2003.

At the Stratford Festival he has directed 16 productions, including The Music Man, Gypsy, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, Iolanthe, The Gondoliers, The Mikado (which also toured Canada and traveled to The Old Vic theatre in London), Cabaret, Guys and Dolls and Carousel.

Also a dancer and choreographer, Mr. Macdonald was an original member of the National Ballet of Canada. His choreography has been seen worldwide, and he has created many works for Montreal’s Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, the Royal Swedish Ballet, the Harkness Ballet of New York and the Batsheva Company of Israel. He has also staged productions for La Scala, the Australian Opera, the New York City Opera, the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, the Toronto Symphony at the Edinburgh Festival, the Edmonton Opera and Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal.

He is a companion of the order of Canada, a Fellow of the Banff Centre and recently received the Governor General’s gold medal for lifetime achievement in the arts.