Alasdair Middleton

English librettist and playwright Alasdair Middleton made his Royal Opera House debut in 2010, writing the libretto for Paul Englishby’s score of Will Tuckett’s Pleasure’s Progress. He made his Royal Ballet debut in 2012 as librettist for Jonathan Dove’s score for Tuckett, Liam Scarlett and Jonathan Watkins’s ‘Diana and Actaeon’ in Metamorphosis: Titian 2012. He returned in 2013 as co-director and writer for Tuckett’s Elizabeth, first performed in the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. Other works of his performed at the Royal Opera House by visiting companies include Dove’s operas Swanhunter (Opera North) and The Enchanted Pig (The Opera Group).

Middleton was born in Yorkshire and trained at the Drama Centre, London. His many collaborations with Dove include The Walk from the Garden (Salisbury Festival), Life Is a Dream (Birmingham Opera Company), Mansfield Park (Heritage Opera), The Adventures of Pinocchio (Opera North) and the cantata On Spital Fields (Spitalfields Festival, winner of a Royal Philharmonic Society Award). His collaborations with Tuckett include Who Is This that Comes? for Opera North and The Crane Maiden for Kanagawa Arts Theater, Japan, both with music by Englishby. Other librettos include On London Fields (winner of Royal Philharmonic Society Award), A Bird in your Ear (New York City Opera), the song cycle The North Wind Was a Woman (for Dawn Upshaw) and Everything Money Can Buy (Selfridges).

Middleton’s plays include Aeschylean Nasty, Shame on you Charlotte, Casta Diva and Einmal.