Ted Huffman is one of the most successful American opera directors at work in Europe. His vivid stagings of classic and contemporary works are characterized by a sensitive engagement with music and text, as well as precise and detailed work with his singers. Perhaps surprisingly for a young and in-demand director, he does not have a strong visual signature. His style is often described as pared down and stripped to essentials, although he is also capable of serving up grand spectacles, like his 2020 take on Britten’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Deutsche Oper Berlin. What unites his productions is the laser focus and sense of intimacy that he achieves on stages both large and small. This past season, the New York native directed a controversial “Eugene Onegin” at the Royal Opera House and the world premiere of Philip Venables’ “We Are the Lucky Ones” in Amsterdam. (Huffman has collaborated with Venables on three earlier operas, as both director and librettist.) Earlier this month, Huffman and I met up at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, where he premiered an abridged version of Benjamin Britten’s “Billy Budd” in a new arrangement by the British composer Oliver Leith. (It was also given a revised title, “The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor,” that positioned it closer to Herman Melville’s novella.) It’s been over a decade since Huffman began working at Aix. His most recent productions for the festival include Monteverdi’s “L’incoronazione di Poppea” in 2022 and “The Faggots and their Friends Between Revolutions” (another collaboration with Venables) in 2023. This summer, the south of France was experiencing a deadly heatwave and we met in the large, air-conditioned lobby of my hotel the morning after the “Billy Budd” premiere.
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