Download ELSINA JANSEN stage director

ELSINA JANSEN
stage director
“Jansen’s staging of Nixon in China is ingenious in its simplicity”.
Volkskrant
“Great to be able to, once again, view a scenic version of Nixon in China, after
Peter Sellars’ historic staging of the world premiere in 1988. Memories arose but
by no means overpowered the images of this beautiful new show. “
Trouw
Opera director Elsina Jansen made her debut in 2005 with the opera Nixon in
China by John Adams.
In the press she is often recognised for her subtle direction, the use of
imaginative, strong images by using minimal resources and her musicality. Elsina
is versatile, inventive and passionate about working with singers.
Elsina Jansen studied Theatre Arts at the University of Amsterdam and
University of Kent in Canterbury. In order to learn her profession more
thoroughly she took on various apprenticeships. She worked as Assistant
Director with directors such as Monique Wagemakers, Giuseppe Frigeni, Pierre
Audi, Peter Greenaway and Saskia Boddeke, David Pountney, Porgy Franssen
and Christopher Alden and at major opera houses including the Netherlands
Opera, the Nationale Reisopera, the Flemish Opera, Opera Zuid and
Schauspielhaus Frankfurt.
In the Netherlands, Elsina Jansen has staged numerous music theatre
productions including productions at the Nationale Reisopera (La Barca, revival
director for La traviata and La traviata RAP), Opera Trionfo (Zaide, Les
adventures du roi Pausole), at The Dutch National Opera Academy (Così fan
tutte), National Symphonic Orchestra (Die Fledermaus, Coppelia), the Dutch
Philharmonic Orchestra (Heroes, an educational program) and the North
Nederlands Orchestra (Die Fledermaus, Love is in the air). She worked with
conductors such as Jan Willem de Vriend, Robbert van Steijn, Mark Shanahan,
Balázs Kocsár, Ed Spanjaard and Henrik Schaefer.
One of her specialties is creating new music theatre. Elsina made two unique
productions with KamerOperaProject in collaboration with the Grachtenfestival
in Amsterdam. Both projects were a combination of short operas and songs set
to a new storyline. I’m very lonely in my way, about America in the fifties and
Vloed!, in which several short operas and songs of composer Boris Blacher
created a new perspective on Berlin in the 1940s.
As artistic director, stage director and producer, Elsina founded Opera op Zak.
Opera op Zak produces small-scale opera and music theatre productions with
young singers and actors, mostly on location.
Recently Elsina directed three opera performances with company CamerOpera
with young singers in new Dutch translations. La Scala di Seta (Rossini), Don
Pasquale (Donizetti) and Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck) are characterized by
inventive modern design which turns the classics into fresh contemporary opera.
In addition to her work as a director and producer, Elsina also works as a teacher
and coach with instrumentalists as well as singers. Since 2011 she has worked as
a drama teacher at the vocal department of the Royal Conservatory in The
Hague. Together with zen teacher Marc Brookhuis Elsina developed the courses
Zen and Zang (Zen and Singing). This course is given several times a year and as
summer course with voice teacher Margreet Honig.
Future plans:
Together with ensemble Domestica Rotterdam Elsina will direct and write a
script for three new baroque music theatre performances: a triptych about
important figures in German culture: Dürer, Telemann and Frederick the Great.
In celebration of Opera op Zak’s ten year anniversary a special production is
planned around the short opera Vom Fischer und seiner Frau, composed by
Othmar Schoeck in 1930, based on a fairytale of the brothers Grimm.
Version: October 2013