Kevin is a theatre, opera and film director and producer based in New York City.

Kevin has directed over 75 original projects and his work has been presented by many opera companies, festivals, theaters, and orchestras, including the Park Avenue Armory, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, BAM’s Next Wave Festival, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, American Repertory Theatre, CTG/LA, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Minnesota Opera, Montreal Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Seattle Opera, Cincinnati Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, the Prototype Festival, Bard Summerscape, the Virginia Arts Festival, Wexford Festival, San Francisco Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Kevin is especially committed to developing and directing new work.  He has directed over two dozen world premiere operas and plays, many of which were subsequently published or recorded.  Recent world premiere highlights include Spears/Smith’s CASTOR & PATIENCE (Cincinnati Opera), Karim Sulayman’s UNHOLY WARS (Spoleto Festival USA), Spears/Pierce’s FELLOW TRAVELERS (Cincinnati Opera, Prototype Festival/NYC, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Arizona Opera), Bates/Campbell’s THE (R)EVOLUTION OF STEVE JOBS (Santa Fe Opera, Indiana University, Seattle Opera, upcoming: San Francisco Opera, GRAMMY Winner: Best Opera Recording), Salmond/King’s EIGHTY-SIXED (Diversionary Theatre), Todd Almond’s KANSAS CITY CHOIR BOY (starring Almond and Courtney Love, NYC, Boston, LA and Miami), Spears/Walat’s PAUL’S CASE (Urban Arias/DC & Prototype Festival), Spears/Vavrek’s O COLUMBIA (Houston Grand Opera), Puts/Campbell’s THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and Cuomo/Shanley’s DOUBT (Minnesota Opera, PBS’ Great Performances), Lopez/Cruz’s BEL CANTO (Lyric Opera of Chicago, PBS’ Great Performances), Morrison/Cox’s OSCAR (Santa Fe Opera, Opera Philadelphia), Spratlan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning LIFE IS A DREAM (Santa Fe Opera), Rodewald/Di Novelli’s THE GOOD SWIMMER (BAM Next Wave Festival), James/Douglas’ THE NINTH HOUR at Met Live Arts at the Cloisters and Schonfeld’s Iron and Coal (Strathmore Arts Center, Prototype Festival).

During the summer of 2020, Kevin co-founded a new, ever-growing Artist Collective called UP UNTIL NOW, with his partner Brandon Kazen-Maddox, Marcus Shields and Jecca Barry. UP UNTIL NOW COLLECTIVE is committed to inclusive, accessible, and equitable working environments, UP UNTIL NOW develops and produces new interdisciplinary work that explores empathy, intimacy, and community, and seeks to challenge the status quo by building new structures for artistic creation. Among UP UNTIL NOW’s recent projects include SOUL(SIGNS): AN ASL PLAYLIST, for Broad.stream. Our first ASL music video for Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” was featured the Times Square Alliance’s “Midnight Moment,” playing on 80+ screens in Times Square every night in July. Kevin directed six music videos with UUN in 2021, including projects with Shayfer James, Morgan James and Coyle Girelli. Other recent UUN projects include SOUL(SINGS): OPERA for Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Columbus and Opera Omaha, a video campaign for Pride 2022 for Global Citizen and our short film UP UNTIL NOW, which premiered at OutFEST Fushion and NEW FEST in 2022.

For more visit: www.kevinnewbury.com

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