Designer

Francis O’Connor

The Flying Dutchman

Biography

Francis O’Connor has designed numerous productions for the National Theatre, the RSC and new work for the Royal Court and Hampstead Theatre. Internationally, his designs include productions for Komische Oper Berlin, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Spoleto Festival and Opéra de Monte-Carlo. He has a long association with Garsington Opera, the Grange Festival and Opera North.

Notable works include the premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Kevin Puts’ Silent Night for Minnesota Opera. His Opera North designs for Jonathan Dove’s Pinocchio won much acclaim and a German Theater Prize DER FAUST nomination. He has worked with many directors but he is perhaps best known for his collaboration with Garry Hynes’s Druid Theatre in Galway, and this is his third commission for INO. He was was honoured to have his work in Irish theatre represent Ireland in Fragments at the Prague Quadrennial 2018.

Other opera includes Tchaikovsky’s Mazeppa, Ponchielli La Gioconda, Rimsky-Korsakov Ivan the Terrible, George Gerwin’s Porgy and Bess (Grange Park Opera); Gounod’s Faust (Irish National Opera/Gaiety Theatre); Mozart’s The Abduction of the Seraglio (Opéra de Marseille); Janáček’s Sarka, Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn Switzerland); Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, Dove’s Pinocchio (Opera North); Offenbach’s Fantasio (Garsington Opera); Verdi’s La Traviata (ENO); Puts’ Silent Night (Premier Minnesota Opera); Mozart’s The Magic Flute (Ural State Opera) and Donizetti’s Don Pasquale (Opera de Geneva).

February 2025