UK Opera Director, Garth Bardsley, Joins NYU Steinhardt’s Vocal Performance Faculty

NYU Steinhardt's Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions announces the appointment of English opera director, Garth Bardsley, in a newly created role in the Program for Vocal Performance. Bardsley’s appointment is designed to complement and further strengthen artistic practice in NYU Steinhardt’s opera studies track.   

An award-winning director from the United Kingdom, Bardsley has a unique interdisciplinary background with experiences spanning the globe. He has directed, produced, and performed for various opera companies, conservatories, and festivals; starred in the West End productions of Jerry Herman’s The Best of Time and as the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera; written several plays; and as a poet and lyricist, created collaborative works with composers Ben Parry and Gregory Wanamaker which have been performed and broadcast across the UK and America. Bardsley is also a sought-after instructor with more than 26 years’ experience in higher education at the Royal Northern College of Music, Bath Spa University, and the Royal College of Music.

At NYU Steinhardt, Bardsley will help aspiring singers navigate the dramatic demands of operatic composition through borrowing techniques typically employed in musical theater. “Opera companies around the world demand so much more from singers these days; acquiring the skills of an actor and integrating those skills into a sung performance is imperative. Bad acting should not be synonymous with opera!” Bardsley said. Bardsley uses musical theatre repertoire to help singers recognize the relationship between text and music and to explore the subtext of the characters they will embody.

Bardsley is joined by his wife Fiona Bardsley, a TV, radio, and stage actress who will be teaching acting classes designed specifically for singers, giving them the tools to create convincing characters and connect the physicality of acting with singing.

“Opera is the ultimate accomplishment in artistic collaboration. Working with young singers and helping them develop as practitioners is incredibly rewarding and I’m thrilled for the opportunity to work with the immensely talented students and faculty at NYU Steinhardt,” said Bardsley.

About the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development (@nyusteinhardt)
Located in the heart of Greenwich Village, NYU’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development prepares students for careers in the arts, education, health, media, and psychology. Since its founding in 1890, the Steinhardt School's mission has been to expand human capacity through public service, global collaboration, research, scholarship, and practice. To learn more about NYU Steinhardt, visit steinhardt.nyu.edu.