This is Steven Osgood’s seventh season as General and Artistic Director of the Chautauqua Opera Company.  During his tenure the company has reconfigured its season schedule to include longer runs of selected productions, chamber operas, and a Festival Week to allow audiences to see all three productions in one week.  Contemporary music has become a staple of Chautauqua Opera Company’s repertoire each season.  The Composer-in-Residence position was created in 2016, and in 2021 two Composer Fellowships were added.   

Steven has conducted the world premieres of over 20 operas, including, in recent seasons, Breaking the Waves at Opera Philadelphia, JFK at Fort Worth Opera, The Scarlet Ibis, Thumbprint, Blood Moon, and Sumeida’s Song for the PROTOTYPE festival, as well as Missy Mazzoli’s Song from the Uproar with Beth Morrison Projects.  He has been conductor mentor on two occasions for Washington National Opera’s American Opera Initiative, leading the premieres of six new operas.  In January Steven conducted Lincoln Center Theater’s world premiere production Intimate Apparel by Ricky Ian Gordon and Lynn Nottage, based on her play of the same name. The production received 60 performances at the Mitzi Newhouse Theater, and was filmed by PBS Great Performances for release this Fall.  

From 2001 to 2008 Steven was Artistic Director of American Opera Projects. He founded the company’s internationally recognized Composers and the Voice Fellowship and remains the program’s Artistic Director. He conducted the premieres of As One in its sold-out run at Brooklyn Academy of Music(BAM), and Paula Kimper’s Patience and Sarah at the 1998 Lincoln Center Festival.   

Steven has been an Assistant Conductor with the Metropolitan Opera since 2006, most recently working on the revival of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten.  His conducting appearances include New York City Opera, Edmonton Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Memphis, Atlanta Opera and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.  He has been a frequent guest conductor with The Juilliard School and Manhattan School of Music.  The 2022/23 season will include productions at both The Juilliard School and Rice University.