The School of Music, Theatre & Dance announces that Mo Zhou will join the Department of Voice as assistant professor in the fall of 2022. Originally from China, Zhou is a stage director and educator whose international career spans all artistic disciplines, including opera, theatre, musical theatre, dance, and film.
“I am excited to join the faculty of the School of Music, Theatre & Dance at the University of Michigan—and honored to be a part of the rich heritage of its remarkable Voice Department. I look forward to building and growing with this wonderful community,” Zhou shared.
Equally passionate about invigorating classical canons and spearheading new works, Zhou’s productions have been seen at Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle in Hamburg, National Centre for the Performing Arts in China, Santa Fe Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, the Juilliard School, and WP Theatre, among others. She has also worked as a member of the directing staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, the Dallas Opera, and the Des Moines Metro Opera.
Zhou completed her training as the James Marcus Opera Directing Fellow at the Juilliard School, the directing fellow at Wolf Trap Opera, 2050 Artistic Fellow with New York Theater Workshop, Time Warner Directing Fellow with WP Theater and as an apprentice stage director with the prestigious Merola Opera Program in San Francisco. She is also a winner of the OPERA America Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer Prize.
“The Department of Voice is thrilled to welcome Mo Zhou to Ann Arbor,” said Scott Piper, associate professor of music, Norma L. Heyde Faculty Development Professor, and chair of the Department of Voice. “My colleagues and I are convinced that Mo’s innovative staging and vibrant vision for the future of the operatic art form will build on our department’s legacy of achievement and serve to propel our voice students into their professional lives.”
Zhou has previously taught and worked at the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, New School of Drama, and UMKC Conservatory, among many others. She earned her BA at Bowdoin College and her MFA in stage directing at Columbia University, and she holds a certificate in diversity and inclusion from Cornell University.