BIOGRAPHY
Equally active on the podium and at the keyboard, conductor and pianist Michael Sakir has received critical acclaim for his “artistic authority,” “fluidity of expression,” and “great delicacy of feeling." In the 2016-17 season, Sakir makes his guest conducting debut with Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Opera Company of Middlebury in Puccini's Il Trittico, and returns to Opera Orlando for Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Opera Memphis for Jake Heggie's Three Decembers and Peter Hilliard's Blue Viola. He will also make his debut with Washington National Opera as cover conductor for Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.
Sakir's 2015-16 season included guest conducting debuts with Eugene Opera in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Opera Orlando in Mozart’s The Impresario and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, and Hubbard Hall Opera Theater in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He also returned to Des Moines Metro Opera as conductor for Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei.
In the 2014-15 season, Sakir made his conducting debuts at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music for the fully-staged Chicago premiere of Dead Man Walking (for which he was awarded 3rd Place in the 2015 American Prize in Conducting: Opera Division), American Opera Projects for the touring premiere production of Laura Kaminsky's As One, Opera in the Ozarks for Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Opera North (NH) for Aaron Copland's The Tender Land. Sakir also returned to the Boston Opera Collaborative as conductor and harpsichordist for Handel's Rinaldo.
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. Between 2008 and 2013, Sakir received critical acclaim as Music Director of the Boston Opera Collaborative’s The Magic Flute, Carmen, Little Women, and the New England Premiere of Dead Man Walking.
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 received additional training from the International Conducting Workshop & Festival, Conductors Guild Training Workshop, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors. Sakir is a member of the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. He is a native of Northern California.
Sakir's 2015-16 season included guest conducting debuts with Eugene Opera in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Opera Orlando in Mozart’s The Impresario and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, and Hubbard Hall Opera Theater in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. He also returned to Des Moines Metro Opera as conductor for Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei.
In the 2014-15 season, Sakir made his conducting debuts at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music for the fully-staged Chicago premiere of Dead Man Walking (for which he was awarded 3rd Place in the 2015 American Prize in Conducting: Opera Division), American Opera Projects for the touring premiere production of Laura Kaminsky's As One, Opera in the Ozarks for Rossini's La Cenerentola, and Opera North (NH) for Aaron Copland's The Tender Land. Sakir also returned to the Boston Opera Collaborative as conductor and harpsichordist for Handel's Rinaldo.
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. Between 2008 and 2013, Sakir received critical acclaim as Music Director of the Boston Opera Collaborative’s The Magic Flute, Carmen, Little Women, and the New England Premiere of Dead Man Walking.
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 received additional training from the International Conducting Workshop & Festival, Conductors Guild Training Workshop, and the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors. Sakir is a member of the national music honor society Pi Kappa Lambda. He is a native of Northern California.
