ABOUT

Michael Hofmann is an opera stage director, administrator, performer, and artist based in Hudson, New York. His frequent experience with premiere works and devised performances has positioned him as a specialist in contemporary opera direction dedicated to genuine, engaging, and accessible storytelling. His directorial debut, a semi-staged performance of Bernstein’s Candide with The Orchestra Now in February 2017, was noted as "stunning in its brilliance, humor, and overall gestalt... an astonishing accomplishment" (Millbrook Independent). Hofmann has since directed or stage managed performances with the Kaufman Music Center’s Special Music School, University of Connecticut, Fresh Squeezed Opera, the Bard Music Festival, and the Bard College Music Program, among others. Most recently, he directed the U.S. premiere of Hao Weiya’s Painted Skin for the China Now Music Festival with performances at Hudson Hall and Jazz at Lincoln Center in October 2022. He also directed Jillian Flexner’s world premiere chamber opera Self-Defined Circuits at HERE Theater in May 2022, a production praised for being “riveting… so artfully done, so sensitive and authentic” (Observer) and “particularly inventive in its use of technologies” (BroadwayWorld).

As a baritone, he has sung regularly with several New York-based choral ensembles and small opera companies, including The Choir of St. Luke in the Fields, Canticum Scholare, and Opera on Tap, and currently is a staff singer at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran in Poughkeepsie. Hofmann holds a B.A. in music from Vassar College and an M.M. in voice from Bard College Conservatory. Previously the Mayoral Aide & ADA Coordinator for the City of Hudson, he now works as the Audience & Member Services Manager at the Fisher Center at Bard, and occasionally freelances as a graphic designer. He serves on the Board of Directors for the Hudson Festival Orchestra (President), Clarion Concerts (Treasurer), Columbia Opportunities, and The Friends of First Presbyterian.