Hans Nieuwenhuis studied law at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, before devoting his professional life to the theater as an actor, designer, writer and ultimately as a stage director. He assisted several renowned opera stage directors including Götz Friedrich, Harry Kupfer, John Cox, Sir David Pountney and Lotfi Mansouri and made his directing debut with the Netherlands Opera in 1979. He was a resident stage director for this company from 1979 – 1984 and directed new productions in Amsterdam of La Bohème, Parsifal, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Rita, The Old Maid and the Thief (Menotti) and several world premieres.

His international career started in 1981 with the staging the USA premiere of Philip Glass’ Satyagraha for the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and the Art Park Festival (Lewiston, NY). After that he directed more then 90 productions around the world. He worked for L’Opéra de Nice in France, The Canadian Opera Company, San Francisco Opera, Manitoba Opera, L’Opéra de Montreal, Opera Colorado, Long Beach Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Western Opera Theater, Opera Omaha, Lincoln Center New York, Pacific Opera Victoria (Canada), Bangkok Opera and many other companies in Europe, Asia and North America. Mr. Nieuwenhuis often also made stage- and costume designs for his own productions.

For L’Opera de Nice he staged new productions of Il turco in Italia and Der Zigeunerbaron and for the Canadian Opera Company he directed The Return of Ulysses, The Tales of Hoffmann, La Traviata, Tchaikovsky’s Pique Dame and several world premiere productions. For San Francisco Opera’s Merola Program and Western Opera Theater he staged a new Carmen. This production made an extensive tour throughout the United States and Japan.

Mr. Nieuwenhuis returned to the San Francisco Opera to direct a successful production of The Magic Flute in the Golden Gate Park. Further credits include Salome for Opera Colorado, Fidelio for Opera Omaha, The Magic Flute for the Festival Auvers-sur-Oise (France), Bluebeards Castle for Yale Opera, Cabildo (composed by Amy Beach, 1932) for Lincoln Center and Die Fledermaus for the OK Mozart Festival (Oklahoma), Opera McGill in Montreal and Opera Studio Nederland. He directed new productions of La Bohème for Opera Studio Nederland and Johann Strauss’ Der Zigeunerbaron for Pacific Opera Victoria in Canada. In Thailand he directed the world premiere of Ayodhya by Somtow Sucharitkul for the Bangkok Opera to international acclaim. His production of Britten’s Rape of Lucretia was also created for Bangkok Opera and thereafter performed for a Vietnamese audience in Hanoi. Mr. Nieuwenhuis has collaborated with many renowned conductors, including Richard Bonynge, Christopher Keene, Edo de Waart, Hans Vonk, Nicholas McGegan, Jean Fournet and Ton Koopman. Recent projects include Dido and Aeneas for Opera Zuid in Holland and L’Opera Royal de Wallonie in Belgium, Le Nozze di Figaro for Hawaii Opera Theatre, Die Fledermaus for International Opera Projects in the Netherlands, and Belgium, Cosi fan tutte for Opera Studio Nederland and Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine for the Harlem Opera. This summer he directed a new production of Monteverdi’s L’Incoronazione di Poppea for the Trentino Festival in Italy.

During the last three decades Hans Nieuwenhuis has devoted himself to aspiring young opera singers: he has taught and directed for the Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, the San Francisco Opera Merola Program, Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Yale University and Michigan University in the USA, McGill University in Montreal, the music conservatories in Utrecht, Amsterdam and Maastricht in the Netherlands, the Sichuan Conservatory and the Ninxia Conservatory in China and the Tchaikovsky Conservatorium in Moscow.

He was also a regular guest teacher at the Opera Studio of the National Theatre in Tokyo and has given Master Classes in the Netherlands, USA, Thailand, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Croatia, Italy, France, Canada, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Japan, Ukraine, Oman, and China. Currently he works with young singers in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Estonia, and Canada and for summer programs in Italy. He is also active as a guest teacher, speaker, casting advisor and opera consultant.

Hans Nieuwenhuis has been a jury member at many prestigious singer’s competitions: the Hans Gabor-Belvedere Competition in Vienna, the Marmande Competition in France, the Arena di Verona Competition in Italy, the Jeunes Ambassaseurs Lyrique in Canada, the Young Opera Singers Competition in Izmir, Turkey, the Klaudia Taev Competition in Estonia, the Dutch IVC Competition in Den Bosch and several other competitions. During the last 16 years he was a member of the Selection Committee for Les Jeunes Ambassadeurs Lyriques in Montreal and various other cities in Canada.

Mr. Nieuwenhuis was founder and, from 1992-2011, General Director of OPERA STUDIO NEDERLAND in Amsterdam. The Opera Studio, funded by the Dutch government, offered an extensive training program for a select group of young singers from around the world. Mr. Nieuwenhuis is currently General Director of the Orfeo Foundation, an international organization established to promote collaboration between young artists programs around the world and to advising young opera singers. More information can be found on www.orfeofoundation.org

In 2012 Hans Nieuwenhuis was appointed Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his work in opera, theater, and music.