Photo by Felipe Barral

Biography

General and Artistic Director of The Atlanta Opera since 2013, Israeli born Tomer Zvulun is also one of the leading stage directors of his generation, earning consistent praise for his creative vision and innovative interpretations in the fields of Opera and Musical Theatre. His work has been presented by prestigious opera houses in Europe, South and Central America, Israel and the US, including The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Seattle Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas, San Diego, Boston, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Israeli Opera, and the festivals of Wexford, Glimmerglass and Wolf Trap, as well as leading educational institutes and universities such as The Juilliard School, Indiana University, and Boston University.

Tomer spent seven seasons on the directing staff of the Metropolitan Opera where he directed revivals of Carmen and Tosca and was involved with more than a dozen new productions. He is a frequent guest director in companies such as Seattle Opera (Semele, La Boheme, Eugene Onegin, Lucia di Lammermoor,), Dallas Opera (Die Fledermaus, La Boheme), Houston (Flying Dutchman, Rigoletto), Wexford Festival (Silent Night, Dinner at Eight), Cincinnati Opera (Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Flying Dutchman), Wolf Trap (Falstaff, Don Giovanni), Israeli Opera (Dead man walking, Giulio Cesare) among others. His European premiere of Silent Night at the Wexford Festival received two Irish Times Awards and traveled from Ireland to Washington National Opera, The Glimmerglass Festival and the opera companies of Atlanta, Austin and Salt Lake City.

Zvulun has directed over 30 new productions in his home company in Atlanta, including immersive productions, large musical theatre productions, contemporary pieces and Wagner’s RING cycle. During Tomer’s tenure, the company’s fundraising has tripled, resulting in twice the number of productions presented annually, and in the company joining the top 10 opera companies in America. His focus on innovation has garnered national attention and resulted in a Harvard Business School case study chronicling The Atlanta Opera’s turnaround, an International Opera Awards nomination, an ArtsATL luminary award, and an invitation to deliver a Ted Talk about innovation in opera. 

His upcoming projects include building a new opera headquarters in Atlanta, completing the first RING cycle in the history of the Southeast, Opening The Alliance Theatre season with a new Fiddler on the Roof and exporting multiple opera productions from Atlanta to the Kennedy Center, Los Angeles, Dallas, Cincinnati, Toronto, and many others cities.

Tomer’s recent shows have traveled across continents, receiving critical acclaim for their striking visuals and cinematic quality. Some of them include The Flying Dutchman (Houston, Cincinnati, Atlanta), Dinner at Eight (Wexford Festival, Minnesota Opera), Eugene Onegin (Seattle, Atlanta, Detroit, Kansas City), Lucia di Lammermoor (Seattle, Atlanta, Cleveland,) Silent Night (Wexford, Atlanta, Glimmerglass, Washington, Austin), Soldier Songs (Atlanta, San Diego), Dead Man Walking (New Orleans, Atlanta, Tel Aviv), La Bohème (Seattle, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas),  Lucrezia Borgia (Buenos Aires), Gianni Schicchi (Juilliard, IVAI Tel Aviv), L’heaure Espagnole (Juilliard), Magic Flute (Cincinnati, Atlanta, Indiana University), Don Giovanni (Wolf Trap, Cincinnati), Die Fledermaus (Dallas, Kansas City), Falstaff (Wolf Trap, Des Moines), Rigoletto (Boston, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Omaha), Tosca (National Theatre Panama, Atlanta).

Tomer Zvulun was born and raised in Israel, attended the open University in Tel Aviv, was a visiting scholar at Boston University Opera institute, and is an alumnus of the Harvard Business School. He is a member of Rotary Downtown Atlanta and The Buckhead Coalition.