John Hoomes CEO
Artistic
Director Mr. Hoomes is the CEO and artistic director of Nashville Opera. Mr. Hoomes has been the artistic director of Nashville Opera since 1995.
As a freelance stage director, he has directed over 200 productions of opera and music theatre in the US, South America, and Canada. The New York Times declared his Nashville Opera world premiere of Elmer Gantry “An Operatic Miracle...in Nashville.” A June 2010 Opera News feature article acknowledged, “Hoomes has proved himself one of the most interesting stage directors in the regional market today with a seemingly limitless knowledge of repertoire.”
Since receiving his masters degree from Indiana University, he has worked for many professional opera companies including New York City Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Teatro Colón, Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Lake George Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, The Lyric Opera of Kansas City, The Opera Company of Philadelphia, The Florentine Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Opera New Jersey, The Opera Company of North Carolina, Pensacola Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Opera Memphis, Arizona Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus, and Sarasota Opera.
Mr. Hoomes has directed a wide variety of opera productions including: Tosca, Andréa Chenier, La Bohème, Carmen, Die FLedermaus, Der Rosenkavalier, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, The Marriage of Figaro, La Fanciulla del West, Salome, Don Giovanni, Ernani, Jenufa, Otello, Aïda, and Turandot.
Mr. Hoomes staged the world premiere of Robert Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry, as well as a second new production of the same work for Florentine Opera (recorded on Naxos Records and winner of 2 Grammys; also named the #1 opera CD release by Opera News), and the world premiere of songwriter Marcus Hummon’s chamber opera, Surrender Road at Martha Rivers Ingram Hall in Nashville.
Hoomes also directed the “Southeastern professional premiere” of five contemporary pieces: Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse, David Lang’s The Difficulty of Crossing a Field, Romulus Hunt by Carly Simon, Michael Nyman’s The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and an acclaimed production of Daniel Catán’s opera Florencia en el Amazonas. Mr. Hoomes later remounted Nashville Opera’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas for the New York City Opera in the Rose Theatre at Lincoln Center.
In January 2017, he staged Nashville Opera’s third world premiere, THREE WAY, by Robert Paterson and David Cote. Nashville Opera’s world premiere production of Three Way was then remounted at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in June 2017 in collaboration with American Opera Projects.
