Known for his distinctive staging style and hailed as "the most inventive opera director in town" (St. Paul Pioneer Press), Robert Neu is a pioneer in semi-staged operas with symphony orchestras. With over ninety productions of opera, musical theater, and plays nationwide, his work is celebrated for its theatricality and musical sensitivity. Recent highlights include directing Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Idaho, La Traviata for Shreveport Opera, and Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Idaho in the current season.
Recent engagements feature St. John’s Passion with Shreveport Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and Lyric Opera of the North; The Merry Widow (Opera Idaho); Amahl and the Night Visitors and Eugene Onegin (Skylark Opera); La Traviata and Otello (Pacific Symphony); Le nozze di Figaro (Inland Northwest Opera, Orlando Opera); La bohème and The Barber of Seville (Opera Orlando); As One and Cosí fan tutte (Skylark Opera Theatre); West Side Story (Central City Opera/Boulder Philharmonic); Don Giovanni (Steamboat Springs Opera); and L’enfant et les sortilèges and The Magic Flute (Pacific Symphony).
Fully staged productions include Cosí fan tutte (Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra), La bohème (West Virginia Opera, Gulf Coast Symphony), Trouble in Tahiti (Minneapolis Fringe Festival), and Le nozze di Figaro (Bellevue Opera). Over a decade with Skylark Opera, he directed operettas, operas, and musicals such as Naughty Marietta, Don Pasquale, The Merry Widow, On the Town, Wonderful Town, The Fantasticks, Candide, and Putting It Together. For Lyric Opera of the North, he directed Don Pasquale, The Face on the Barroom Floor, Carmen, and Il barbiere di Siviglia. Theater credits include Oliver, The Sound of Music, Fiddler on the Roof, Death of a Salesman, Art, and The Laramie Project.
Collaborating with symphony orchestras, Neu has created semi-staged works for Minnesota Opera (Candide, Fidelio, Tosca, Carmen), Colorado Symphony (Tosca, The Music Man), and Cincinnati Symphony/Pops (Die Zauberflöte, Peer Gynt). His innovative adaptation of Romeo and Juliet for actors and orchestra has been performed by the Minnesota Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, and others.
Co-founder of Angels & Demons Entertainment, Neu produces programs introducing orchestral audiences to opera. Nine of his productions have earned "Best of the Season" accolades from outlets like the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio. His 2014 The Laramie Project won Broadway World’s Best Ensemble and Outstanding Theater Event awards.
Neu teaches audition masterclasses at the University of Minnesota and serves as Resident Director at Lyric Arts Theater (Minneapolis). A Juilliard School graduate, his work remains at the forefront of blending symphonic and theatrical artistry.