BIOGRAPHY
Praised for his "artistic authority," "fluidity of expression," and "great delicacy of feeling," Michael Sakir serves as music director of Opera Memphis. In Opera Memphis' 2018-19 season, he conducts Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Gilbert & Sullivan's H.M.S. Pinafore, and Jerre Dye and Zachary Redler's The Falling and the Rising - a new opera based on interviews with wounded American veterans. He also returns to the Opera Company of Middlebury to conduct Massenet's Cendrillon and the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center for Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus.
In the 2017-18 season, Sakir conducted Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri and Alessandro Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor with Opera Memphis. He also returned to Des Moines Metro Opera as conductor for Mark Campbell, Kimberly Reed, and Laura Kaminsky's opera As One, as well as the Opera Company of Middlebury for Andre Previn's contemporary masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire. Additionally, Sakir made his debuts with Shreveport Opera conducting Mozart's The Magic Flute and with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center conducting Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Bernstein's Candide.
In the 2016-17 season, Sakir made his guest conducting debuts with Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Opera Company of Middlebury in Puccini's Il trittico, and returned to Opera Orlando for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Opera Memphis for Jake Heggie's Three Decembers. He also made his debut with Washington National Opera as cover conductor for Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
Other recent guest conducting engagements include Eugene Opera in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Opera Orlando in Mozart’s The Impresario and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Des Moines Metro Opera in Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei, Northwestern University for Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, American Opera Projects for As One, Opera in the Ozarks for Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Opera North (NH) for Copland's The Tender Land.
Sakir has held chorus master, assistant conductor, and coach positions for nearly three dozen productions with Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Pensacola Opera, and Opera Boston.
Sakir holds bachelor degrees in Piano Performance and Music History from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a graduate degree in Orchestral Conducting from The Boston Conservatory. He was a participant in the 2017 OPERA America Leadership Intensive. He is a native of Northern California.
In the 2017-18 season, Sakir conducted Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri and Alessandro Scarlatti's The Triumph of Honor with Opera Memphis. He also returned to Des Moines Metro Opera as conductor for Mark Campbell, Kimberly Reed, and Laura Kaminsky's opera As One, as well as the Opera Company of Middlebury for Andre Previn's contemporary masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire. Additionally, Sakir made his debuts with Shreveport Opera conducting Mozart's The Magic Flute and with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center conducting Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Bernstein's Candide.
In the 2016-17 season, Sakir made his guest conducting debuts with Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Opera Company of Middlebury in Puccini's Il trittico, and returned to Opera Orlando for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Opera Memphis for Jake Heggie's Three Decembers. He also made his debut with Washington National Opera as cover conductor for Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
Other recent guest conducting engagements include Eugene Opera in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Opera Orlando in Mozart’s The Impresario and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Des Moines Metro Opera in Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei, Northwestern University for Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking, American Opera Projects for As One, Opera in the Ozarks for Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Opera North (NH) for Copland's The Tender Land.
Sakir has held chorus master, assistant conductor, and coach positions for nearly three dozen productions with Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Pensacola Opera, and Opera Boston.
Sakir holds bachelor degrees in Piano Performance and Music History from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and a graduate degree in Orchestral Conducting from The Boston Conservatory. He was a participant in the 2017 OPERA America Leadership Intensive. He is a native of Northern California.