10/28/2023: Indiana University Opera Theater and Voice Department Present “Swimming in the Dark - a Workshop.” Michael Shell, Director.

11/15/2021: Jacobs School of Music, IU Opera and Ballet Theater’s Production of The Turn of the Screw wins the 2022 National Opera Association Award for Best Opera Production Division VIII!

Opera News - DES MOINES METRO OPERA launched a diverse weekend of music-making on July 12 with a sparkling account of America’s favorite problematic musical, Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.

Opera Today - “Best of all possible Candides”

Broadway World - “A Beautiful Kaleidoscope That Makes the Best of all Possible Shows”

Schmopera - “Don’t let the upbeat tunes deceive you! DMMO’s Candide”

Critics across the nation have praised Michael's productions. Of his most recent new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, it was said by Broadway World, "This production was one I could watch over and over again. Each moment of the show required the sets, costumes, and actors to be at their best. The final picture of what we see on stage is a beautiful reminder of what our world can be. While we all have our own beliefs, when we come together, we make something beautiful."

Michael has directed productions for the Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Opera San Jose, Opera Tampa, Opera North, Virginia Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Wexford Festival Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and Houston Grand Opera. He made his international directing debut at the Wexford Festival Opera in 2010 with a production of Winners by American composer Richard Wargo. He returned the next fall to direct Double Trouble–Trouble in Tahiti & The Telephone. He has written and directed three cabarets, including All About Love and The Glamorous Life–A group therapy session for Opera Singers, both for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He has directed opera scenes at Glimmerglass Festival and Santa Fe Opera.

Shell holds a B.M. and M.M. in Music/Vocal Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He was a Corbett Scholar at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and studied Acting and Scene Study on a school-awarded scholarship at the internationally renowned H. B. Studios in NYC.

He has been a guest faculty member at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Florida State University, and Webster University, St. Louis, teaching Opera Workshop and directing Undergraduate Opera Workshop performances. In addition, Shell has been a guest director at the A. J. Fletcher Opera Institute and Oklahoma University, and was a frequent guest director at Indiana University before joining its faculty. He was also a faculty member of the Summer Opera Program at the Israeli Vocal Arts Institute.

In 2020-21, Shell directed all five IU Jacobs Opera Theater productions under COVID protocols when no other U.S. academic institution or opera company presented fully staged indoor productions. The school’s The Turn of the Screw by Benjamin Britten won a National Opera Association Best Opera Production award that season.

In 2023 he is spearheading the first New Works Series at Jacobs School of Music. The first workshop to be presented is titled “Swimming in the Dark.” The plot is based on the book of the same name written by Polish writer Tomasz Jedrowski. The story is set in the early 1980s Poland against the violent decline of communism. It is a coming-of-age story but also a tender and passionate story of first love between two young men who eventually find themselves on opposite sides of the political divide.

The Presentation will occur on October 28, 2023, in Bloomington, Indiana, on the Indiana University Campus. For more information, please email shellmi@iu.edu.

Upcoming Productions:

Swimming in the Dark - a workshop, JSOM Opera and Ballet Theater, 2023

Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, JSOM Opera and Ballet Theater, 2024

La Boheme, Opera Theater of Saint Louis, 2024

West Side Story, Indiana University, Jacobs School of Music, 2018