One of the most active opera stage directors in Latin America, André Heller-Lopes has directed productions all over Brazil and also in countries such as Germany, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, Poland, Germany, Austria, UK, Estonia, Malaysia and the USA. He trained at the prestigious San Francisco Merola Opera Program (2001) and at Covent Garden’s Young Artist Programme (2003-2005). In 2013 he received the Britten100Award and his production of A midsummer night’s dream was a finalist in the best opera production category at the 2014 Opera Awards. In 2025 he was awarded a prestigious grant by the Gulbenkian Foundation in order to study the influence of Wagnerism in Opera.
Artistic Director for the Theatro Municipal do Rio de Janeiro (2017-2020), André Heller-Lopes has also worked as Opera Coordinator for the city of Rio de Janeiro (2003-2008), casting director for the Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira (2013) and artistic coordinator for Programa Jovens Intérpretes at the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, in Lisbon (2009-2012). A post-graduate from Rio de Janeiro’s Federal University Music School, where he has been Professor for Stagecraft and History of Opera at its Voice Department since 1996. The King’s College London has awarded André Heller-Lopes the title of Philosophy Doctor Degree (Phd) in 2011. A regular guest for stagecraft masterclasses, he has taught at Jette Parker Artists Programme at the Royal Ballet and Opera in London, at the Acccademia del Teatro San Carlos di Napoli, at the INAE (Instituto de Artes Esceni-cas) in Uruguay or at the Teatro Colon de Buenos Aires, Teatro Municipal de Sao Paulo, Teatro Mayor de Bogotá or Chile’s National Opera.
André Heller-Lopes’ repertoire includes a wide variety of opera ranging from classical and baroque works (Medée, Le Nozze di Figaro, Idomeneo, La Finta Giardineira, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte, Die Zauberlföte or Renaud) to major Romantic operas (Tristan und Isolde, Carmen, Nabucco, Rigoletto, Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor, Samson et Dalila, Eugene Oneguin, Faust, Werther) and Verismo (Andrea Chenier, Adriana Lecouvreur, Tosca, Turandot, Manon Lescaut), to modern mas-terpieces (Salomé, Ariadne auf Naxos, Der Rosenkavalier, Der Zwerg, Savitri, The Case Makropu-los, The Cunning little Vixen, Katya Kabanova, Jenufa, La Voix Humaine) — all the way to Lehár’s Die Lustige Witiwe or Roger Water’s ‘rock-opera’ Ça Ira. One André Heller-Lopes’ most important productions was the Brazilian Ring an acclaimed take on Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen. Among his upcoming engagements are the Latin American premiere of R. Strauss Friedenstag, Le Villi, Wozzeck (São Paulo), Roméo et Juliette (Spain) and Nabucco (Tel Aviv).
