Director
2023
'The Marriage of Figaro' by Mozart - Director
State Opera of South Australia
2022
'Suor Angelica' by Puccini - Director
Mopoke Theatre Productions - Clayton Wesley Uniting Church S.A.
2021-2022
'Love Burns' by Koehne - Director
State Opera of South Australia - Touring National Australia
2020
'Acis and Galatea' by Handel - Director
Co-Opera & Adelaide Botanic Gardens
2019
'Christina’s World' by Ross Edwards – Director
State Opera of South Australia
Internship/Observation - Opera Holland Park, London
'Manon Lescaut' Puccini - Director Karolina Sofulak
'Don Giovanni' Mozart – Director
Co-Opera Inc. Touring Australia
'Tosca' Puccini – Director and Producer
Mopoke Theatre Productions – Clayton Wesley Uniting Church S.A.
2018
'Dido and Aeneas' Purcell – Director
State Opera SA in association with Adelaide Elder Conservatorium of Music
'Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg' ACT III Wagner – Assistant Director
State Opera of South Australia – Director Andrew Sinclair
'A Little Night Music Sondheim' – Director
Watch This. Melbourne Australia.
Internship/Observation - Nice Côte d’Azur Opera House, France
'Nabucco' Verdi – Director Jean-Christophe Mast
2017
'La Vida Breve' Falla – Director
State Opera of South Australia
Internship - Opera Australia. Sydney Australia
'Cavalleria Rusticana'/'Pagliacci' – Director Damiano Michieletto & Rodula Gaitanau
2016
'Dido and Aeneas' Purcell – Director and Producer
Mopoke Theatre Productions and Ensemble Galante, Queen’s Theatre Adelaide
'Price Check' Weatherly– Director
Loaded Productions, Bakehouse Theatre Adelaide
'La Clemenza di Tito' Mozart – Director
Co-Opera Intermezzo Artist Development, Adelaide
2015
'L'Heure Espagnole' & 'Gianni Schicchi' Double Bill – Co-director
Lyric Opera of Melbourne
'Cosi Fan Tutte' Mozart – Director
Co-Opera Inc. Touring Australia
(Adelaide Theatre Guild Award Nomination)
2014
'The Gondoliers Dream Getaway' Gilbert & Sullivan & Palmer – Director
Pacific Opera Company, Sydney Australia
'The Old Maid and the Thief' Menotti – Director and Producer
Mopoke Theatre Productions with Co-Opera Inc. Adelaide Fringe Festival
Internship - Opera Australia. Sydney Australia
'Otello' Verdi – Harry Kupfer Original Director, Revival Director Roger Press
'Don Giovanni' Mozart – Sir David McVicar Director
'The Elixir of Love' Donizetti – Simon Phillips Director
2012/13
'Suor Angelica' Puccini – Director
Co-Opera Inc. Adelaide SA
Regiehospitanz/Internship - Coburg Landestheater Germany. Nov 2012 – May 2013
'Dorian Gray' Roland Fister – Bodo Busse Regisseur
'Der Zigeunerbaron' Strauß – Birgit Kronshage Regisseurin
'Madama Butterfly' Puccini – Szemerédy & Parditka Regisseure
2012
'Tosca' Puccini – Director and Producer
St Silas Church Melbourne & Uniting Church Bairnsdale, Vic
Internship/Observation - Opera Australia. Sydney Australia
'Madama Butterfly' Puccini – Moffatt Oxenbould
2011
'Eugene Onegin' Tchaikovsky – Director
Co-Opera Inc. Thomas Edmonds Opera Studio, Adelaide SA
Reviews
The Marriage of Figaro
“This State Opera SA production is brilliant….
Cannon is clever. Through this contemporary Australian lens he finds an abundance of humour in The Marriage of Figaro that sets the opera alight. It is funny, very relatable, and it works.
… in Cannon’s hands, it all melts into rapturous comedy of the televisual kind.”
Graham Strahle – In Daily 17 November 2023
“…stage director Nicholas Cannon and State Opera South Australia have nailed it! Their production of Mozart’s much-loved (and much performed) opera The Marriage of Figaro is just wonderful. It deserves to be playing to full houses, and especially to anyone who thinks that grand opera is stuffy, elitist, or inaccessible….
Cannon has adapted the two-hundred-and-fifty-year-old story to the corridors of the Australian parliament in Canberra, and it is a stroke of creative genius. It smacks of a deep understanding of the thematic material in the story and a knack for knowing what will stand up to modernisation, and what will not….
This production is so very good in almost every respect. Nicholas Cannon and State Opera South Australia’s The Marriage of Figaro is breezy, unpretentious, and manifestly able to be easily enjoyed by everyone (if the infectious enthusiasm of the opening night audience is anything to go by!)”
Kym Clayton – The Barefoot Review 16 November 2023
Love Burns
5 Stars “Cannon’s unerring eye when it comes to the finer details and machinations when played out on such a small set. This tragic tale is told with understated humour and brio; never does the score or plot lag… Yet another successful revival.”
Brett Allen-Bayes - LIMELIGHT 7 June, 2021
Christina’s World
4 ½ stars “What we have is, in effect, a painting or tableau brought to life, a place wherein the characters are not only allowed to interact freely, but a place wherein, particularly in the case of the work’s title character, is able to muse and suggest in soliloquy.” Brett Allen-Bayes - LIMELIGHT 3 August 2019
Tosca
"It gives everything you want for a great night of music and theatre."
Ewart Shaw - Adelaide Advertiser February 2019
A Little Night Music
“astute direction from Nicholas Cannon”
Cameron Woodhead – The Age 28 February 2018
“Direction by Cannon is excellent – this is a slick, sharp production”
Ellen Burgin – Theatre People 4 March 2018
La Vida Breve
“An utterly captivating and delightful experience that deserved a longer season.”
Vincent Plush – Limelight Magazine 1 September 2017
“the cleverness of director Nicholas Cannon”
Greg Elliot – In Daily 31 August 2017
The Old Maid and the Thief
“Mopoke, a new company, announce their presence with a truly charming and finely sung account of this brief Menotti opera .... the style and freshness of the production. Nicholas Cannon’s direction of a work first written for radio has the cast turning chairs and tables as the location shifts, keeping up with the fluid music. The work is a perceptive choice and we can only wait to see what else Mopoke will bring us.”
Ewart Shaw – Adelaide Advertiser February 2014