Guthrie Thomas
is an innovative and award-winning British director and musician working in theatre and music to tell stories in vivid, new and direct ways.

A former Jette Parker Young Artist Stage Director at the Royal Opera House in London, his revival of David McVicar’s production of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte there won What’s On Stage Best Revival 2018. His own critically acclaimed productions of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro and Die Zauberflöte at Longborough Festival Opera led to an invitation to direct Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer there in 2018 (subsequently called ‘one of the best productions at this venue I have seen’, Rupert Christiansen, Telegraph). He directed Verdi’s Aida at the Liceu in 2020, Handel’s Semele in Paris, Rome, London and Barcelona in 2019 and his 2020 production of Gagliano’s rare 1608 opera La Dafne – created in a week with young singers at the Brighton Early Music Festival – was nominated for a 2020 RPS Award.

Projects since lockdown have included Our Street, an opera written by and for the borough of Lewisham, Stories We Tell Ourselves, a new devised opera Constanze, Offenbach’s Robinson Crusoé, and a staging of Leonardo Dreams of his Flying Machine at the Royal Albert Hall (‘One of the most staggering things I’ve ever seen … Mesmerising’, X).

With a reputation for stylish, unfussy, energetic, physical, and theatrical work, the clarity of the storytelling, the commitment of the performers and a pre-eminence of musical values are at the heart of his productions.

Tom also works with non-professionals of all ages and backgrounds. Some of his most thrilling projects have been in this field, including work with his own charity Music and Theatre for All, Streetwise Opera, the Prison Choir Project, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, and the Royal Opera House, through whom he has inspired hundreds to connect with their inner Caruso and raise the roof. His production of Ludd and Isis, a new opera commissioned to launch the ROH’s new Production Park in Thurrock, involving a cast of hundreds, including professionals and amateurs of all ages, was acclaimed as ‘one of the Royal Opera House’s grandest achievements’ (Opera).

As a singer he has performed at venues worldwide with conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner and Sir Richard Hickox. His production of Winterreise with puppet has been running for almost 20 years (‘Brilliant. Stunning. Not only is the voice production, vocal tone and phrasing the most sensitive and expressive I have heard since Fischer-Dieskau’s earlier recordings, but the German pronunciation is the best I have heard from a non-native’ (Youtube comment).’It was absolutely a life-changing experience seeing Thomas Guthrie’s production of Winterreise in Kent.’ (Youtube comment). ‘audaciously expressive, chilling and thrilling’ (Sunday Times), ’an extraordinary experience’ (Opera Now).

Thomas is the founder and artistic director of the charity Music and Theatre for All, former Guest Artistic Advisor to the York Early Music Festival, was Belknap Fellow at Princeton University, New Jersey in 2017, and is proud to sing and play with Bjarte Eike’s Alehouse Boys.