Dutch director, Monique Wagemakers, studied dance pedagogy and music at the Brabants Conservatorium in Tilburg. She directed an internationally acclaimed production of Madama Butterfly (2006), for the Staatsoper Stuttgart, and working together with dramaturg Prof. Klaus Zehelein, she was nominated for Director of the Year by Opernwelt magazine.
Monique Wagemakers has a long association with the Netherlands Opera, Amsterdam, where she made her directorial debut with Madama Butterfly, followed by Rigoletto, and more recently, a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor at the Muziektheater in Amsterdam. The Dutch National Opera revived this successful production in 2014.
For her many stagings with the Nationale Reisopera, including Peter Grimes, Fidelio, La Traviata, I due Foscari and Un ballo in maschera, she was awarded the Friends' Prize (Vriendenprijs).
She has created productions in the Netherlands and abroad: including Madama Butterfly for the Staatsoper in Stuttgart (2006), Carmen for the Staatsopera in Hannover (2008), Rigoletto for Teatro Real in Madrid (2009) and Ariadne auf Naxos (2009) and Il barbiere di Siviglia (2010) for the National Theater Mannheim. She directed Lulu for Theater Augsburg (2011), La Traviata for the Nationale Reisopera Enschede (2012) and Tristan und Isolde for the Staatsoper Nürnberg (2012).
Further productions range from Der Fliegende Höllander (Edmonton Opera), Carmen (Vancouver Opera), Rigoletto and Don Giovanni (Opera Zuid), Tosca (Utrechts Concert), La voix humaine (Holland Symphonia), to Brand's Machinist Hopkins and Robert Heppener's Een Ziel van Hout (Holland Festival).
Monique Wagemakers was associate director and choreographer for Strauss's Intermezzo and Arabella at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera. She also choreographed many productions for the Netherlands Opera including Don Giovanni, La Traviata, Salome, Rigoletto, Rodelinda, La Vie Parisienne and Carmen.
She staged a programme with the Utrecht String Quartet and mezzo-soprano Virpi Raissänen for the Music and Vocal Art Days. For the same singer she staged a programme around Phaedra with the Helsinki Philharmonic in the Helsinki Music Centre (2012).
For The Nederlandse Reisopera, Monique Wagemakers has directed the world premiere of Katibu di Shon, the first opera in Papiamentu by Randal Corsen based on a novel by Carel de Haseth, which received its premiere on 1st July 2013 in the Amsterdam Schouwburg.
From 1995 until 2009 Monique Wagemakers taught drama at The Utrecht School of the Arts. Since 2003 she teaches at the Amsterdam school of the Arts.
In Spring 2016 she directs a new production of Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio segreto for Nationale Opera & Ballet in coproduction with Opera Zuid and the Dutch Reisopera. This production will tour in the Netherlands and have performances on the 18 & 23 March 2016 in the Stadsschouwburg, Amsterdam.
Amsterdam 2015
