Full biography
A celebrated stage director and opera impresario, Maestro Michael Capasso is the former General Director of New York City Opera. Over a career spanning more than 40 years, he has produced, directed and toured more than 100 opera and musical theater productions in the United States and abroad, including numerous world premieres, and he is regarded as one of the foremost living Puccini experts. In June 2014, together with philanthropist Roy Niederhoffer, he led the company's remarkable return from bankruptcy, laying the artistic, administrative and financial groundwork for the company's future. The revitalized New York City Opera returned to the stage in January 2016 with a celebratory production of Tosca. Under his leadership the company was once again on solid financial footing, producing full seasons of opera, concerts and educational programs, with a special focus on City Opera's long legacy of new and innovative work. Its programming included seven New York, U.S. and world premieres from 2017, along with initiatives reflecting the diversity of New York City: Ópera en Español, the LGBTQ+ Pride Series, a partnership with the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, and a celebration of Black excellence.
He began his career producing and directing while still in his late teens and early twenties. In 1981, at just 20 years old, he and Diane Martindale founded New York's Dicapo Opera Theatre. In 1995 Capasso conceived and designed a permanent home for the company, repurposing the lower level of the St. Jean Baptiste Catholic Church on Manhattan's East Side and transforming the large, unused space into a 204-seat "jewel-box" theater. Drawing on his background in construction, he was involved in every facet of the project, even personally operating heavy equipment to dig the orchestra pit. Over 30 years of his leadership, Dicapo Opera Theatre presented diverse programming to the New York public and, in cooperation with the Armel Festival, premiered three productions of contemporary American operas in Europe.
Beyond Dicapo, Mr. Capasso has directed operas at l'Opéra de Montréal, Mallorca Opera (Spain), Toledo Opera, Connecticut Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Opera Carolina and Orlando Opera, among others. In 1991 he founded the National Lyric Opera, a touring company that brings fully staged opera to communities in the American Northeast that would otherwise have no opportunity to experience it live.
To celebrate the 75th anniversary of George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Capasso mounted a production that began touring the United States in February 2010 and was later hosted at Mexico City's famed Palacio de Bellas Artes.
He has directed and produced world premieres with both Dicapo Opera and New York City Opera, most recently in 2022, when he directed and produced the world premiere of Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie's The Garden of the Finzi-Continis. A true Puccini specialist, Mr. Capasso has directed every operatic note the maestro wrote, including all three versions of Madama Butterfly and the American staged premiere of Edgar.
As an author, his credits include a staged adaptation of Dickens's A Christmas Carol; Opera Senza Rancor, a satire on the world of opera; Puccini's Passion, a biographical play with music on the life and career of Puccini; a new book and libretto for La Périchole; English librettos for Die Fledermaus and The Daughter of the Regiment; and a concert and lecture series for the New-York Historical Society. His film on the life and career of Enrico Caruso, which he wrote and produced, aired on A&E's Biography series in 1998. He also directed scenes from Nabucco for the feature film The Secret Lives of Dentists.
In 2016 Capasso received an honorary doctorate from the College of Mount Saint Vincent and the "Legends of the Arts" award from the Harvard Club. His honors also include New York City's Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation's Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Leonardo da Vinci Award for Cultural Achievement from the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York. In 2004 he was named "Man of the Year" by the Italian Welfare League, and in 2009 he received a Special Lifetime Achievement Award in the Arts from the Order Sons of Italy in America.