bio

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Award-winning director, creator, and dramaturg, Jennifer Tarver has worked internationally in both theatre and opera for over 25 years. Her recent and upcoming productions include La Clemenza di Tito (Pacific Opera Victoria), a staged Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater (Edmonton Opera), Rota’s Il cappello di paglia di Firenze (University of Toronto), and the premiere of Marshall’s Pomegranate at the Canadian Opera Company. She has also directed for Canadian Stage, the Stratford Festival, the Tarragon, Soulpepper and Buddies in Bad Times Theatres, as well as the Goodman Theatre (Chicago), The Longwharf Theatre and Hartford Stage (Connecticut).

Renowned for her visionary interpretations of both new and classical repertoire, Jennifer’s work is marked by innovation and exquisite craft. She worked extensively with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, directing several operatic world premieres, and was the Director of the Opera Studio at the Centre for Opera Studies (Sulmona, Italy) from 2007-2009. Her operatic repertoire includes Mozart’sThe Magic Flute, Così fan tutte, and Don Giovanni, Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges, Sokolovic’s Svadba, Menotti’s The Telephone, Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti, and several works of Benjamin Britten, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Turn of the Screw, and The Rape of Lucretia.

She was Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre from 2013-2019, and led the Residency Program at The Theatre Centre from 2004-2012, where she mentored over 30 dance, opera and theatre companies in the creation of original work. Jennifer has also made her mark as an adaptor and creator, collaborating on several new works, productions, multi-disciplinary projects, and critically acclaimed premieres.

She has won the John Hirsch Directors Award (University of Alberta) and Pauline McGibbon Award in Directing (Ontario Arts Council), was a finalist for the Siminovitch Prize in Directing, and has been nominated for six Dora Awards, bringing home two for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding Production for her work on That Time - 5 Beckett Shorts with Theatre Extasis.

Jennifer has taught acting and directed productions for the Royal Conservatory of Music, the University of Toronto’s Opera Division, the National Theatre School of Canada, Toronto Metropolitan University, George Brown College, McMaster University, Sheridan College, and York University.