The UMKC Conservatory is pleased to welcome Mo Zhou, Director of Opera, Fall 2021. A native of China, Mo Zhou is a stage director based in New York City. She earned her BA at Bowdoin College, and her MFA at Columbia University.
Ms. Zhou has directed at Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, The Juilliard School, WP Theatre Pipeline Festival, and The New School of Drama, to name a few. She has also worked as staff director at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, among others. She received training as James Marcus Directing Fellow at The Juilliard School, with two consecutive summers as the Directing Fellow at Wolf Trap Opera, as well as a 2050 Artistic Fellow with New York Theater Workshop, a Time Warner Directing Fellow with WP Theater and as an Apprentice Stage Director at Merola Opera Program in San Francisco.
She conceived and directed the opera The Diary of John Rabe in 2019, which looks at the rape of Nanking through a German businessman John Rabe’s point of view. The production had a critically acclaimed run at NCPA in China, followed with a successful European tour at Staatsoper Berlin, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and Ronacher in Vienna. It is in post-production for a 4K opera movie that is slated to distribute nationally late this year.
An avid advocate for new work with specific focus on unusual female trajectory, she has developed new works with American Opera Project, NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and Guerilla Opera in Boston.
Welcome Mo Zhou!