Wadsworth, Stephen
Wadsworth, Stephen
Wadsworth, Stephen, American opera producer, librettist, and translator; b. Mount Kisco, N.Y., April 3, 1953. Afer working as a journalist, he turned to opera production. He served as artistic director of the Skylight Opera in Milwaukee, where he oversaw his first production, L’incoronazione di Poppea,in 1982. His subsequent stagings there included Orfeoand II ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. He wrote the libretto for Bernstein’s A Quiet Place (1983), which he staged in Milan and Vienna. He then produced Alcinain St. Louis (1987), Partenopein Omaha (1988), Der fliegende Holländerin Seattle (1989), and Die Entführung aus dem Serailin San Francisco (1990). In 1991 he produced Fidelioand La clemenza di Titoat the Scottish Opera in Glasgow, and in 1992 he staged Alcinaat London’s Covent Garden. In 1996 his staging of Xerxeswas seen in Boston, Los Angeles, and Santa Fe, and in 1999 his La clemenza di Titowas mounted in N.Y. His translations include operas by Monteverdi and Handel.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire