Marcus Shields is a stage director and visual artist.
His work spans opera, experimental performance, video, and interdisciplinary collaboration. He has directed productions and created original projects for institutions including the Curtis Institute of Music, the Juilliard School, Catapult Opera, AJ Creative, Cincinnati Opera, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Wolf Trap Opera, the Merola Opera Program, and Beth Morrison Projects. His work includes productions of Le nozze di Figaro, La Passion de Simone, Falstaff, La voix humaine, Tosca, L’enfant et les sortilèges, La Calisto, La vida breve, and Idomeneo, as well as new and devised work combining music, video, performance, and installation.
Recent and upcoming projects include Britten’s Curlew River for 3000HZ, Rebel Rebel for the Ruhrtriennale, Ariadne for Catapult Opera, and two new original works: The Grieving Mother Stood Weeping (after Pergolesi) and Yesterday I Fell Apart (after Benjamin Britten), in Bern, Switzerland, and New York City.
Shields has been a staff stage director at the Metropolitan Opera since 2019, where he has collaborated on productions with directors including Ivo van Hove and Simon Stone, and on new works by composers including Jeanine Tesori, John Adams, and Matthew Aucoin.
Shields served as Executive Director of Catapult Opera from 2018 to 2021, where he launched the Accelerate Competition and commissioned The Glitch. He has also co-founded several artist-led companies and projects, including AlexanderJane Creative, UpUntilNow Collective, and OSSIA Productions.
He has taught directing and performance at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Chautauqua Institution, and Des Moines Metro Opera.
Originally trained as a musician in voice, piano, and percussion, Shields also works in photography and installation.