Tomer Zvulun is an Israeli stage director. Since 2013 he is the General and Artistic Director of Atlanta Opera.
Life and career
Zvulun was born in Israel. He was a medic during his military service in the Israeli army. Originally he wanted to become a doctor, but opted for the opera and became a director. He studied art and music at the Open University in Tel Aviv, was a visiting scholar at the Boston University Opera Institute and graduated from the Executive Program at Harvard Business School. For seven years he was engaged as an assistant director at the Metropolitan Opera of New York, where he directed revivals of Tosca and Carmen. Zvulun is a frequent guest director at the Seattle Opera, The Dallas Opera, Houston, The Wexford Festival, the Cincinnati Opera, Wolf Trap Opera and the Israeli Opera. He has directed productions at numerous opera houses in North and South America, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera de Montreal, Boston Lyric Opera, Dallas, Buenos Aires, Wolf Trap, New Orleans, Glimmerglass Opera, as well as at prestigious educational institutions such as Juilliard School, Indiana University and Boston University. Zvulun is known for introducing the European premieres of numerous American operas. In 2014, his production of Silent Night at the Wexford Festival received multiple Irish Times awards as best production of the year. In 2018, his production of Dinner at Eight received its European premiere at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland. In 2019 his production of Dead Man Walking was presented in Tel Aviv, becoming the first modern American opera to be presented in that house. Since June 2013 he has been the Artistic Director of the Atlanta Opera. As a director, he has interpreted a wide range of operas. In the 2017/18 season he staged three completely different works: the Wagner opera The Flying Dutchman, the musical Sweeney Todd by Stephen Sondheim and the Holocaust opera Out of Darkness by American composer Jake Heggie. His collaboration with the Harvard Business School led to a case study about his leadership at the Atlanta Opera. It documents the changes he has brought during his tenure. The case study is currently being taught as part of the executive program curriculum at The Harvard Business School. In 2018 he was invited to deliver a talk at TEDXEmory on innovation in opera titled "Opera in the Age of the Iphone". Zvulun presented several Baroque operas, but he also staged the classical repertoire from Mozart to Puccini and Richard Strauss. In addition he presented several works by contemporary composers such as William Bolcom, Jake Heggie and Kevin Puts.
