Kristine McIntyre has directed more than 100 operas with a focus on new, contemporary and American works, including the world premiers of Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed's Hometown to the World at the Santa Fe Opera and Town Hall NYC, Kristin Kuster and Mark Campbell's A Thousand Acres for Des Moines Metro Opera based on the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel by Jane Smiley, the planetarium opera Galaxies in Her Eyes by Mark Lanz Weiser and Amy Punt, and the opera film Unknown for UrbanArias based on the song cycle by Shawn Okpebholo and Marcus Amaker. Her recent technologically-innovative immersive production of Bluebeard's Castle, a collaboration with world-famous visual composer Oyoram, was met with great critical and audience acclaim. Their new production of The Cunning Little Vixen will premier at Des Moines Metro Opera in the summer of 2025, the first in a multi-year series of planned works together.
Other recent productions include Moby Dick, Dark Sisters, Flight, Wozzeck, Dead Man Walking, Billy Budd and Manon (regional Emmy awards), the world premiers of The Place Where You Started, Mirror Game, Jane Eyre and John Brown; new productions of Peter Grimes, Jenüfa, Sweeney Todd, Trouble in Tahiti, The Seven Deadly Sins, Street Scene, As One, Glory Denied, Soldier Songs, Florencia en el Amazonas, The Coronation of Poppea, Semele, Vanessa, Of Mice and Men, The Human Voice, The End of the Affair, Three Decembers, The Turn of the Screw, Eugene Onegin, La bohème, Lucia di Lammermoor, La cenerentola, Cosi fan tutte, Un ballo in maschera, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, Werther and Les Contes d'Hoffmann, as well as the world premiers of Louis Karchin's Jane Eyre for the Center for Contemporary Opera, The Place Where You Started by Mark Lanz Weiser and Amy Punt at Art Share LA, Mirror Game by Celka Ojakangas and Amy Punt, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant by Evan Meier and E.M. Lewis and Kirke Mechem's John Brown for Lyric Opera of Kansas City
Upcoming projects include a revival of her film-noir inspired Don Giovanni, the world premier of Woman With Eyes Closed by Jennifer Higdon and Jerre Dye, La bohème at Opera Colorado, and a new co-production of Of Mice and Men with Houston Grand Opera.
In addition to her opera film Unknown, Kristine has directed many other projects for the digital realm, including the Studio Artist Showcase for Houston Grand Opera in 2020 and 2021, a recital series for the Portland Opera's Resident Artist program and the Women in Politics recital featuring works by Stacey Garrop and Jake Heggie for Portland Opera at Home. She collaborated with several companies on the filming of her bilingual Spanish-English adaptation of The Barber of Seville, one of the many operas she has adapted and directed for education and community opera programs throughout the country.
Passionate about the training of the next generation of opera artists, Kristine has also taught and directed in many young artist programs, including those at Houston Grand Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Portland Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and The Santa Fe Opera. She regularly mentors young directors, composers and librettists and serves on the steering committee of the Women's Opera Network at Opera America.
Kristine began her opera career at the San Francisco Opera and then spent eight years on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera where she directed numerous revivals.
With a background in theater, Kristine founded and was the artistic director of everyman, a San Francisco-based theater company. She also collaborated with Rebecca Salzer Dance Theater with whom she co-created pieces of dance / spoken word theater including Skywatch! and Bird Lady, which explores the life and work of street photographer Vivian Maier. For many years, she was a reader and educator for the Playwrights Project, critiquing plays as part of their California-wide playwriting competition. Kristine holds a B.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University, spent her junior at Oxford University studying and directing Shakespeare and has an M.A. in Theatre from the University of Hull in England.
