BIOGRAPHY
Praised for his "artistic authority," "fluidity of expression," and "great delicacy of feeling," Michael Sakir has served as Music Director of Opera Memphis since August 2017. In addition to conducting nearly a dozen operas in Memphis, he has been deeply involved in the company's groundbreaking civic engagement programs, community partnerships, and commissioning projects. Sakir also serves as Principal Guest Conductor of the Opera Company of Middlebury where he returned in Spring 2019 to conduct Massenet's Cendrillon.
In the 2019-2020 season, Sakir makes his Seattle Opera debut conducting Jerre Dye and Zachary Redler's The Falling and the Rising - a new opera co-commissioned with the United States Department of Defense and based on interviews with wounded American veterans. He also returns to Intermountain Opera Bozeman to conduct Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
Sakir is a regular guest conductor with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center where he conducted Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Bernstein's Candide in Summer 2018, as well as Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus in Summer 2019.
Other recent guest conducting engagements include Des Moines Metro Opera in Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei and Mark Campbell, Kimberly Reed, and Laura Kaminsky's As One, Opera Company of Middlebury in Puccini's Il trittico and Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, Opera Orlando in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Mozart’s The Impresario, and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Shreveport Opera in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Eugene Opera in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Brevard Music Center in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Floyd's Susannah, and Bernstein's Candide, 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, Washington National 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 2019-2020 season, Sakir makes his Seattle Opera debut conducting Jerre Dye and Zachary Redler's The Falling and the Rising - a new opera co-commissioned with the United States Department of Defense and based on interviews with wounded American veterans. He also returns to Intermountain Opera Bozeman to conduct Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.
Sakir is a regular guest conductor with the Janiec Opera Company at the Brevard Music Center where he conducted Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Bernstein's Candide in Summer 2018, as well as Carlisle Floyd's Susannah and Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus in Summer 2019.
Other recent guest conducting engagements include Des Moines Metro Opera in Philip Glass’ Galileo Galilei and Mark Campbell, Kimberly Reed, and Laura Kaminsky's As One, Opera Company of Middlebury in Puccini's Il trittico and Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire, Opera Orlando in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Mozart’s The Impresario, and Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias, Shreveport Opera in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Intermountain Opera Bozeman in Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment, Eugene Opera in Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, Brevard Music Center in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, Floyd's Susannah, and Bernstein's Candide, 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, Washington National 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.