Meet our Alumni

Barrie Kosky is an internationally acclaimed Theatre and Opera Director. Kosky directed his first play at Melbourne Grammar School and at The University of Melbourne he acted and directed while undertaking studies in music.

In 1986 he received the Murray Sutherland Drama Prize. In the 1990s he gained national recognition as a Theatrical Director in productions for the Victorian State Opera, Opera Australia and the Bell Shakespeare Company. He was also Artistic Director of the Adelaide Festival in 1996. During this time Kosky established the Gilgul Theatre Company, which was noted for its expressionistic story telling. He directed many of its productions including Der Dybbuk, The Wilderness Room and The Operated Jew.

In 2001 Kosky was appointed Co-Artistic Director of the Schauspielhaus Theatre in Vienna. He made his European opera debut in 2003 in Le Grand Macabre at the Komische Oper in Berlin. He later received much critical acclaim for his direction of The Marriage of Figaro at that same venue.

Kosky returned to Australia in 2006 to be Writer, Director, Music Director and Designer for The Lost Echo, an adaptation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, for which he received the Best New Play Award, the Sydney Theatre Award and the Helpmann Award for Best Director.

His most recent productions include Orfeo at the Staatsoper Berlin, Iphigenie en Tauride at the Komische Oper, Peter Grimes at the Staatsoper Hannover and Poppea at the Edinburgh Festival.