Annilese Miskimmon is an opera director. She is the Artistic Director of the English National Opera, and was previously Director of Opera for the Norwegian Opera and Ballet. She was an undergraduate at Christ’s and has been an Honorary Fellow of the College since 2023.
Annilese read English, graduating in 1995, and during her time here was a member of Christ’s Amateur Dramatic Society, the University Opera and Gilbert and Sullivan societies, and directed her first plays and operas. After leaving Cambridge she studied Arts Management at City University, London.
From 1996 to 2001 she worked for Welsh National Opera as an in-house producer and was then Consultant Associate Director for Glyndebourne Festival and Tour until 2003. From 2004 to 2012 she was Artistic Director of Opera Theatre Company, the National Touring Opera of Ireland. She then joined Danish National Opera as General Manager and Artistic Director until 2017 when she moved to the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.
In 2020 Annilese took up the role of Artistic Director of the English National Opera, becoming the only female artistic leader of a major British opera company. In shaping the future of the ENO and the London Coliseum she brought in innovative ideas from the start, finding new and exciting ways of engaging audiences.
She continues to work as a freelance director, having previously worked on productions around the world including San Francisco, Bologna, Toronto, Brussels, Beijing, Paris, Oslo, Frankfurt, Stockholm, and Salzburg. She has worked with the largest international opera houses, many of the world’s leading conductors, and with broadcasters including NRK in Norway, Danish Radio and TV, the Irish broadcaster RTÉ, Sky Arts, and the BBC (including Radio 3 and 4 and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Barbican and at the Proms). She also writes and commentates on opera regularly for national and international press, radio and television.
Photo credit: Nicola Ross