Scott Skiba

Director, Opera Studies
Associate Professor of Voice

M.M., B.M., Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Scott Skiba has led more than 60 new operatic productions, earning critical acclaim for his imaginative stage direction and dynamic physical approach to storytelling. His recent production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" was praised for "first-rate stage direction... vivid and emotionally charged." Recent engagements include new productions of "The Student Prince" for Opera Grand Rapids, "La Bohème" for Cleveland Opera Theater and "Suor Angelica" for Oberlin in Italy. Upcoming engagements include "Le nozze di Figaro" and "Madama Butterfly" for Cleveland Opera Theater, "Dialogues of the Carmelites" for Baldwin Wallace Conservatory Opera, "Cavalleria Rusticana" for Asheville Lyric Opera, "Il barbiere di Siviglia" for the Natchez Music Festival and "Don Giovanni" for the Hawaii Performing Arts Festival.

Skiba is the executive artistic director of Cleveland Opera Theater where he has directed critically acclaimed productions of "La Bohème," "Tosca," "La Rondine," "Gianni Schicchi," "Suor Angelica," "Il Tabarro," "Pagliacci," "Amahl and the Night Visitors," "The Pirates of Penzance," "H.M.S. Pinafore," "Il Segreto di Susanna," and the Cleveland premiere of the new vampire opera, "Clarimonde." Additional directing credits include "Die Csardasfürstin" and "Die Fledermaus" for Opera Circle Cleveland. He has directed new productions of "Tobermory," "Roman Fever" and "Trouble in Tahiti" for the Oberlin Conservatory of Music Opera Theater; "Serse" and "La finta giardiniera" for Oberlin in Italy; "The Crucible" and "Falstaff" for Martina Arroyo's Role Preparation Program at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music; "The Medium," "Too Many Sopranos" and "The Crucible" for the Baldwin Wallace Conservatory of Music; and "The Pirates of Penzance," "Dido & Aeneas" and "Orpheus in The Underworld" for the Interlochen Opera Theater.

Skiba has directed interdisciplinary collaborations in non-traditional venues that explore alternative, intimate and contemporary approaches to opera including: the professional premiere of "Sweets By Kate" with Marble City Opera, which was performed in an installation at the Knoxville Museum of Art and in a site-specific production at the recently opened Sugar Mama's Bakery in Downtown Knoxville; "Marguerite," a world premiere adaptation of Gounod’s "Faust," "Unplugged," "Fiesta," "Portrait of a Diva," and "Letters from Mary Stuart" for Cleveland Opera Theater at the Cleveland Public Theatre; "The Spider" for Interlochen Opera Theater; the "New Opera Project" which developed and presented the world premiere of six short operas in collaboration with Interlochen Arts Academy, Parallel 45 Theatre Company and the Inside Out Gallery in Traverse City, Michigan; and "Belles Èpoques," a collaboration between Cleveland Opera Theater and EDWINS Restaurant and Institute, whose founder and CEO, Brandon Chrostowski, has been named a 2016 CNN hero. "Belles Èpoques" traced the evolution of French food, wine and opera and featured a five-course menu inspired by the music in a production on-site at the restaurant.

An advocate of arts education, Skiba has worked as associate instructor of voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, acting and movement instructor for the Oberlin Conservatory Vocal Academy for High School Students and instructor of voice and director of the Interlochen Opera Theater. He is the executive director of the Oberlin in Italy opera training program in Arezzo, Italy and instructor of interpretation and movement for the Cornish American Song Institute.  

Skiba is a frequent guest teacher throughout the United States and in Europe offering master classes and workshops on acting, singing acting, movement, physical characterization, mask work, audition techniques and professional development. Recent guest engagements include the University of Tennessee Knoxville Opera Theater, East Carolina University School of Music, Kent State University, Interlochen Arts Camp, University of Central Missouri, Christopher Newport University and the Musica nelle Marchè summer program.  

Skiba is the recently appointed director of opera studies and associate professor for the Baldwin Wallace University Conservatory of Music.