Quick Facts
Biography
Nicholas Heath (born 21 December 1959) is a British opera director.
Heath was born in London. His father, cellist Kenneth Heath, helped found the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields chamber orchestra.
Having trained as a potter at Middlesex Polytechnic Nicholas Heath embarked on a career in singing. What started at the Montepulciano Arts Festival in Italy led eventually to a full-time contract at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1993.
He formed Opera a la Carte in 1993 and started directing for the company in 1995. He has directed music theatre to grand opera, working with many talented singers on their way to international careers. In 2002 he was awarded 5 stars for his Tango Barber of Seville by The Times and in 2004 directed the première of Call Me Ishmael based on Melville’s Moby Dick in Amsterdam.
Since 2004 he has regularly lectured in Opera Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. He left the Royal Opera House in 2006 to work with homeless people in a project run by Streetwise Opera and to devote more time to Opera à la Carte.
In 2007 he participated in the Clore Cultural Leadership Programme and designed and ran a masterclass at the Bermuda Festival.