stage director translator writer arts administrator
Francis Rizzo was born on November 8, 1936, in New York City to Patrick Charles Rizzo and Mary Katherine McTigue Rizzo. He grew up in Westchester County, New York, and developed an early interest in opera, particularly the works of Richard Wagner. His later career combined artistic administration, stage direction, writing, and translation rather than performance as a singer or instrumentalist.
Rizzo received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hamilton College in 1958. Hamilton College, founded in 1812 in Clinton, New York, developed as a residential liberal-arts institution emphasizing broad undergraduate study; Rizzo's degree was in French.
He studied at the Yale School of Drama from 1958 to 1960. Yale's professional drama school, established in 1924, trained practitioners for American theater through specialized instruction in dramatic production and stagecraft. His education helped connect his literary and language interests with a career in opera and theater administration.
Rizzo began his career in opera administration and stage direction during a period when American opera companies were expanding their repertories, audiences, and production systems. From 1968 to 1971 he served as general director of the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, an international arts festival founded in 1958 by composer Gian Carlo Menotti to join European and American artistic traditions.
From 1972 to 1978 Rizzo was artistic administrator of Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia. Wolf Trap, established as the first national park devoted to the performing arts, presented opera, symphonic music, theater, dance, and popular performance in a large outdoor venue. Rizzo helped shape its artistic programming and later returned as an artistic consultant from 1985 to 1994.
Rizzo became artistic director of the Washington Opera in 1977 and held the position through 1987. The company, founded in Washington as the Opera Society in 1956 and later associated with the Kennedy Center, was one of the major American opera organizations of the period. During this phase he also worked as a dramaturg and prepared English projected titles for opera productions.
Alongside administrative work, Rizzo directed productions for companies including New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. His documented directing credits include The Medium at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1976 and productions at Santa Fe Opera. He also served as a consultant to the National Education Association in Washington from 1974.
Rizzo's work extended into opera translation and audience access. He prepared or co-prepared English versions of works including L'Amico Fritz and La bohème, and his English titles were used by opera companies including the Washington Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and other American companies. His translations and projected titles formed part of the growing American practice of presenting foreign-language opera with accessible English text.
Rizzo contributed English translations and projected titles that helped American opera companies present foreign-language works to English-speaking audiences, including L'Amico Fritz, La bohème, and productions by the Washington Opera and other major companies.
He conducted a documented interview with opera director Herbert Graf for Opera News in 1972, preserving an extended first-person account of Graf's career and theatrical practice.
(A published version of Herbert Graf's interview with Fran...)
1993(Rizzo served as stage director for Opera Theatre of Saint...)
1976(Francis Rizzo prepared the English translation used for t...)
1976(Francis Rizzo and Richard Pearlman prepared the English t...)
1978Rizzo's professional outlook emphasized the importance of the backstage work through which opera is organized, translated, and made intelligible to audiences. His career suggests a view of opera as a collaborative art requiring coordination among administrators, directors, musicians, singers, designers, and technical staff.
Rizzo was a member of the American Guild of Musical Artists, a labor organization representing professional performers and stage managers in the United States. His membership connected his administrative and directing career with the professional institutions supporting workers in opera, concert, and related performing-arts fields.
In a 1986 interview, Rizzo described himself as drawn to the backstage and administrative dimensions of opera and spoke of the appeal of exercising influence without appearing before the audience. The same interview characterized him as introspective and strongly interested in Wagnerian opera.
Quotes from others about the person
Colleagues described Rizzo as a knowledgeable administrator with a strong ability to identify artistic talent and shape opera programming. In discussing his work with Roman Terleckyj, Rizzo emphasized Terleckyj's organizational ability and effectiveness in resolving demanding production problems.
Rizzo was the son of Patrick Charles Rizzo and Mary Katherine McTigue Rizzo. His professional connections included Gian Carlo Menotti's Festival of Two Worlds and the network of American opera companies associated with Wolf Trap, the Washington Opera, and major regional opera theaters.
