Denni Sayers is a renowned operatic choreographer, widely recognized as one of the leading figures in her generation. Her early work was primarily with Opera Northern Ireland, where she served as choreographer and assistant director on numerous productions.
Some of her notable credits include Medea, Maria Stuarda, and Orfeo ed Euridice for Opera North, as well as collaborations with Francesca Zambello on productions such as Cyrano de Bergerac, Carmen, and Paul Bunyan at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
Recent credits also include Boris Godunov and War and Peace with the English National Opera, Porgy and Bess with the Washington Opera, and The Love for Three Oranges and Carmen with the Sydney Opera. She has also worked on Of Mice and Men with the Bregenz Festival and Carmen with the Oslo Opera.
In addition to her work with Zambello, Sayers has collaborated with Nikolaus Lehnhoff on productions such as Parsifal, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin, and Eugene Onegin. She has also worked with Danny Slater on Der Vögelhändler, Neil Armfield on Sweeney Todd, Ariadne auf Naxos, and Don Carlos, and Peter Stein on The Bassarids.
As a director, Sayers has helmed productions such as Lucia Lucas' groundbreaking performance as Don Giovanni for Tulsa Opera's 2018/2019 season, the revival of Of Mice and Men in Washington, and new productions of Tosca in Toronto, West Side Story in Tel-Aviv, and Rachel Portman's new piece Water.
Future plans include directing La fanciulla del West in Amsterdam, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Zurich, Turandot in Amsterdam, Don Giovanni in Glyndebourne, Elektra in Salzburger Festspiele, Ariadne auf Naxos with the Welsh National Opera, and A Midsummer Night's Dream in Chicago, as well as a revival of Ariadne auf Naxos in Boston.
