Selected Press Coverage

Madison Opera Stages Strauss' Haunting Salome

"Director Keturah Stickann has an eye for bold, striking scenes, assisted by Mary Shabatura’s stark lighting."

Knoxville Opera Announces its 2022-23 Season...and a Rebranded Future

"At the heart of the transition are the artistic personnel changes that were previously announced last December: the stepping down of Artistic Director Brian Salesky and the appointments of Dean Anthony as KO’s producing director, Elizabeth Moore as music coordinator, and Keturah Stickann as artistic advisor."

A Little Night Music

"Director Keturah Stickann has featured the whimsy and lightened the tone. She's de-emphasized the more dour elements of the plot and characters. It's achieved primarily by easing the Greek Chorus of singers, stilted in other productions, into A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM style fairies and sprites. Her choreography blushes with the pride of a director who's had their concept percolating in her mind for some time. It's a triumph of creativity and execution by each designer bringing her vision to life."

La Boheme: Rodolfo Remembers

"Assuming the operatic world gets fully back into a pre-pandemic groove again, this reminiscence of La Bohème may have a short shelf life. But as a souvenir of the dark time when any attempt at live performance required bold new ways of thinking and came with many risks and fears, its value will remain."

La Boheme: Rodolfo Remembers

"Stickann, who rejoins the opera for her second production as stage director, developed the approach because of COVID-19 restrictions last year. It was staged in a drive-in “movie-style” parking lot to tell a love story without having performers in close contact. Stickann focused on tender moments through the lens of memory."

The Drive-In Barber of Seville

"Stage Director Keturah Stickann returns after directing the drive-in season opener, La bohème."

San Diego Opera’s drive-in ‘La bohème’ a bold, gear-shifting turn

"This separation resulted in a striking loss of the visual intimacy one might expect in an indoor theater setting. But at a time of worldwide pandemic, the distance added to the pathos of “La bohème’s” storyline, which culminates in the death of Rodolfo’s paramour, Mimi, who succumbs to untreatable tuberculosis. When Rodolfo sings that he will warm her hands in his, from 15 feet away and unable to come any closer, the poignancy is unmistakable."

San Diego Opera’s Drive-In ‘La bohème’ Brings Live Opera Back with Panache

"Stage director Keturah Stickann deftly reconfigured La bohème as a memory opera, with the poet Rodolfo sitting at his desk attempting to recall and set down that turbulent affair some ten years previously when he lived in Paris with his arty roommates and fell in love with the beautiful Mimi on Christmas Eve. Especially since Joshua Guerreo was singing Rodolfo, this proved a brilliant move."

San Diego Opera Stages Drive-In ‘La Bohème’ This Weekend

"There is something about really honing in on these intimate moments between characters that I think is going to allow both of us as performers and the creative team, and the audience to take a deeper look at each of these people as their story’s told," explained director Keturah Stickann.

A Nuanced, Idiomatic Portrayal (La Bohéme - San Diego Opera)

"Singers must be at least fifteen feet apart when singing to each other. Camera angles can minimize the intervening space to some degree, and director Keturah Stickann took full advantage of it, but since the tenor and the soprano were not a couple in real life, they could never embrace. Stickann solved that problem by having Rodolfo tell the story as a memory from years earlier. Not having a chorus for the Parisian Christmas Eve street scene took away the opera's lighter moments, however, and streamlined the movement of the ninety-minute opera toward it's inevitable tragic end. Audience members could weep for their own lost loved ones as well as the heroine."

San Diego Opera Plans Drive-In La Bohème Next Month

To accommodate that distance, stage director Keturah Stickann has reimagined the opera as a memory tale Rodolfo recalls as he writes his Bohemian stories. This way the singers can perform alone in the spotlight as captured moments from his past. Because there will be no chorus for this production, the absence of choral numbers will help reduce the running time to an intermission-less 90 minutes.

Angel Blue & Joshua Guerrero to Headline San Diego Opera's Drive-In Bohéme

The showcase will take place at the Pechanga Arena San Diego Parking Lot and will star soprano Angel Joy Blue alongside Joshua Guerrero. Other cast members include Andrea Carroll, Alexander Elliot, Robert Mellon (in his company debut), Scott Sikon, and Colin Ramsey. The Puccini opera will be presented in a revised 90-minute version directed by Keturah Stickann.

San Diego Opera Announces Live Drive-In Performances of La Bohéme

Staging La bohème in a socially distanced world comes with some challenges as artists require 120 square feet of space around them, and no one can sing within 15 feet of each other. To tackle these challenges the director, Keturah Stickann, has placed the action in Rodolfo's study sometime after the death of Mimì, which occurs at the end of the opera.

Superb singing, staging highlight Palm Beach Opera's splendid "Turandot"

"To an unusual extent, she kept the focus on Calaf. In the opening scenes, when as far as anyone else knew, he’s a nobody wandering Beijing, the chorus directs itself to him. When the Prince of Persia — condemned to death for trying and failing to win Turandot’s hand — ascends to the place of execution, it is Calaf who accompanies him. This had the effect of telling the story from Calaf’s point a view, creating an unusually close connection between the audience and the singer."

Calaf is on a Spiritual Quest in Palm Beach Opera's "Turandot"

“I don’t think anybody who sees this production is going to think they’re seeing something completely different from what they’ve seen before,” she said. “What I hope is that by pulling in these influences from Persian writers we can walk away with a deeper understanding of the story.”

Keturah Stickann named Festival Curator

“I am thrilled to come back to Chautauqua this summer, both as the director of The Mother of Us All, but also in my expanded role as Festival Curator and Artistic Advisor,” Stickann said. “Having the opportunity to celebrate and connect the stories of these three fascinating women, as well as work with so much talent at Chautauqua Opera Company and the Institution at large, is exciting indeed, and I can’t wait to get started."

Orfeo ed Euridice

“Gluck’s pathbreaking fusion of music, dance and drama was seamlessly integrated at Florida Grand Opera in director-choreographer Keturah Stickann’s eye-filling production.”

Carmen

A promotional reel for Keturah's new production of Carmen at the New Orleans Opera.

Carmen

“This week on Inside the Arts, Bizet's Carmen wields her independent spirit, opening the season for the New Orleans Opera Association. Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano sings the title role. She joins us with stage director Keturah Stickann.”

Rusalka

“Keturah Stickann’s direction fielded a number of clever touches, including a heartbreaking bit of business involving Rusalka’s toilette for the royal ball; when the poor displaced soul was given a pair of stockings she had no clue what she was supposed to do with them.”

Candide

“Director Keturah Stickann placed Voltaire on the stage throughout the evening. Played masterfully by actor Richard Marlatt in a resplendent eighteenth-century-style costume, Marlatt archly narrated the action as he joined scenes and toasted conductor Daniel Black, whose stellar chamber orchestra shared the stage. The story’s characters were dressed in the style of the 1950s, a nod to the composer that lent his tale of Candide much-needed immediacy.”

Rusalka at Madison Opera, April 2019

Madison Opera's resolute 'Rusalka' is no little mermaid

Orfeo at Florida Grand Opera, March 2018

"Director-choreographer Keturah Stickann’s production abounds in memorable stage images. The lifeless Euridice’s body being strewn with flowers by candlelight, the furies’ synchronized menace in red and black, and the serene contentment of the shades in the Elysian Fields all registered in strong, almost cinematic fashion. Stickann keeps the drama at forward pitch and seamlessly integrated the music and dance."

Orfeo at Florida Grand Opera, March 2018

"In her choreography, Stickann cleverly incorporated the chorus into the dance numbers, increasing the impact of the eight-member ensemble from Dimensions Dance with a lovely blend of pedestrian movement and classical flourishes."

Turandot at the San Diego Opera, March 2018

"Stickann’s Turandot floats her imperious self amongst her people early on during the riddle ceremony that takes place well into Act 2 when she makes her first earthly and vocal appearance."

Turandot at the San Diego Opera, March 2018

The Challenges Behind Staging San Diego Opera’s ‘Turandot’

Cold Mountain at the North Carolina Opera, October 2017

Jennifer Higdon’s 2015 Opera, Cold Mountain, Surpasses the 1997 Novel and the 2003 Film

Puccini to Pop at Tulsa Opera, February 2017

Tulsa Opera's 'Puccini to Pop' blends opera and musical theater

Pagliacci & The Seven Deadly Sins

“Everyone revealed assured acting skills, nowhere more compellingly than in the “Pagliaccio e Columbina” performance, which Stickann directed in unusually dynamic fashion. The steady stream of broad, off-color humor seemed genuine for a troupe anxious to hold an audience in the provinces; little touches, such as kids sneaking backstage and being scooted out, made the staging all the more engaging. The violent flashes really were surprising, the final moments truly affecting.”

Moby Dick at the Dallas Opera, November 2016

"The direction, by Keturah Stickann for this revival as originally conceived by Leonard Foglia, remains fresh."

Seven Deadly Sins & Pagliacci, Virginia Opera, October 2016

"Virginia Opera broke up the usual ham-and-eggs serving of short verismo operas by balancing Leoncavallo's Pagliacci with another piece all about human failing - Kurt Weill's The Seven Deadly Sins. Given how at least four of those sins figure prominently in Pagliacci, the pairing made sense. Director Keturah Stickann placed both works in the economically challenged 1930's. The characters of Anna I and Anna II from the Weill opera popped up briefly later during Pagliacci, as if they had tired of Louisiana and somehow made their way to an Italian village. A gritty scenic design by Constantine Kritikos also provided a link between the pieces, underlined, with an almost Fellini-esque flourish, by bits of clown paraphernalia added to the costumes for some figures in Seven Deadly Sins....Everyone revealed assured acting skills, nowhere more compellingly than in the "Pagliaccio e Columbina" performance, which Stickann directed in unusually dynamic fashion. The steady stream of broad, off-color humor seemed genuine for a troupe anxious to hold an audience in the provinces; little touches, such as kids sneaking backstage and being scooted out, made the staging all the more engaging. The violent flashes really were surprising, the final moments truly affecting."

Orpheus and Euridice at The Vermont Opera Project, August 2016

"Orpheus and Euridice meet, fall in love, cavort, settle down. She dies slowly. He saves but loses her, and he dies a rather unpleasant death. This takes place in the most atmospheric of staging, giving it an ethereal, untouchable feeling — like living in a dream. "Directed and choreographed by Keturah Stickann, the staging proved stylish and effective storytelling. Robert Wood conducted the inviting music, including the excellent instrumentalists, with a real sense of its drama. "The Vermont Opera Project’s “Orpheus and Euridice” created the effect of a beautiful animated classic painting with music. Now, that’s a different way to enjoy opera."

Macbeth at the Kentucky Opera, September 2015

Director Keturah Stickann: Macbeth 'A Supernatural Feast'

Macbeth at Kentucky Opera, September 2015

Kentucky Opera takes on 'Macbeth,' ambition

Il trovatore at Knoxville Opera, April 2015

"In her fourth project with KO, director Keturah Stickann again wove psychological themes into the staging, themes that reference the backstory of the opera otherwise told only through exposition. Specters of Azucena’s mother and child briefly haunt several scenes as a reminder of that story, completed at the finale by a stunning image of an immolation as the existing scenery flies away. Stickann also gave Il Trovatore some truly gorgeous stage pictures through the painting and organization of crowd tableaus and character movement, such as Act II’s “Anvil Chorus,” all the while making a positive attribute of the drop and wing sets"

Don Quixote at the San Diego Opera, April 2014

Amid turmoil, San Diego Opera carries on with masterful Furlanetto in a thoughtful Don Quixote