MOSHINSKY, ELIJAH

MOSHINSKY, ELIJAH (1946– ), opera and theater producer-director. Moshinsky was educated at Melbourne University (B.A.) and St. Anthony's College, Oxford. He was appointed associate producer at the Royal Opera House in 1979 and became its principal producer. His most successful productions for Covent Garden included Peter Grimes, Othello, Samson and Delilah, and Simon Boccanegra. West End productions have included the prizewinning Shadowlands and Cyrano de Bergerac. He also produced five plays in the BBC Shakespeare cycle. Moshinsky's preferences incline towards the classics, which include Chekhov and Ibsen, and he is considered a leading Verdi expert. However, the 20th century Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre, Berg's Wozzeck, and Sir Michael Tippett's A Midsummer Marriage are among his operatic productions. Moshinsky described his favored method of working; he is first and foremost a respecter of the creative forces of composer and writer and is therefore not a believer in the current vogue of innovation for its own sake. Moshinsky also staged operas for the New York Metropolitan, Australian Opera, Welsh National Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, and the houses of Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam, and the Maggio Musicale in Florence. He also directed several films, including The Midsummer Night's Dream (1981) and The Green Man (1994), and has more recently been associated with the English National Opera in London. The Australian-born Moshinsky also headed several Adelaide Festivals and other cultural ventures in Australia. (Sally Whyte / William D Rubinstein (2nd ed.)