The Barber of Seville in Omaha Debut

October 24th, 2025

Stephen Lawless has directed opera on some of the world’s most prestigious stages—from London’s Covent Garden to Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. But his extraordinary career began in the most ordinary way: with a handwritten letter from a determined 17-year-old in northern England.

“I was 17, and I had kind of decided, without knowing really what it was, that I wanted to be an opera director,” Lawless recalled. “I had absolutely no connections to anything. My family had no theatrical connections. So I read an interview with the British opera director John Copley, and I sent him a letter saying, ‘Please, Mr. Copley, I’d like to be an opera director.’ And I didn’t get a reply for three months.”

Growing up in Warrington, a working-class town in northern England, Lawless never imagined that letter would change his life. When Copley finally replied, the envelope had traveled from Covent Garden to Australia, then to Hawaii before reaching him. Copley invited him to London and helped him enroll in a stage management course, leading to Lawless’s first job in the theater.

“Getting a letter from Hawaii in Warrington in the early 1970s was a bit like getting a message from Mars,” he laughed. “And my first job was working for Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears. I’ve always said it’s been downhill from there.”

That “downhill” career has been anything but ordinary. Over four decades, Lawless has worked alongside some of the most influential figures in opera, including Sir Peter Hall at the Glyndebourne Festival and Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky. He’s directed across Europe, Canada, and the United States, making his American debut in Dallas in 1991.

Among his many productions, one in particular stands out: Der Rosenkavalier at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre. “They hadn’t done any operas by Richard Strauss since 1928 because of his association with Nazi Germany,” Lawless said. “This was the first time they’d done it, and they didn’t cut anything. It must have cost millions.”

Now, Lawless brings his artistry and humor to Omaha with The Barber of Seville, his first production with Opera Omaha. The production, conducted by Gary Thor Wedow, features four flamenco dancers to enhance the Spanish flair that defines Rossini’s comic masterpiece.

“The thing about The Barber of Seville is it’s the most accessible of operas,” Lawless said. “The overture, Figaro’s aria—you hear them everywhere: in cartoons, advertisements, Bugs Bunny. So even if people think they don’t know it, they probably do. The cast we have here is totally inspirational. They make me laugh in rehearsals, which is always good.”

Opera Omaha presents The Barber of Seville this Saturday and Sunday at the Orpheum Theater.
For more information, visit operaomaha.org.

From the KVNO Arts Desk, I’m Gabriel Escalera.