Serban, Andrei
?erban, Andrei
?erban, Andrei, Romanian theater and opera producer; b. Bucharest, June 21, 1943. He received training at the Theater Inst. in Bucharest. He began his career as a producer of plays in his homeland, where he attracted notice with his staging of Ubu Roi in 1966. In 1970 he went to N.Y. to work with the experimental theater group La Mama, where his production of The Cherry Orchard in 1972 was produced to much critical acclaim. In 1980 he made his debut as an opera producer with Eugene Onegin at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff. He staged Turandot in Los Angeles and at London’s Covent Garden in 1984, and returned to Covent Garden to produce Fidelio in 1985 and Prince Igor in 1990. From 1990 to 1993 he was artistic director of the National Theater in Bucharest. He produced Les Contes d’Hoffmann at the Vienna State Opera in 1993. After staging Lucia di Lammermoor at the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris in 1995, he produced Thaïs in Nice in 1997. In 1999 he mounted the Ring cycle at the San Francisco Opera. His opera productions reflect his long and successful career in the legitimate theater.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire