For This Opera Director, a Lot Is Riding on a ‘Handmaid’s Tale’

She saw her first opera at 10 years old, when her father performed in an amateur production of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”In a church hall. It was a distinctly lo-fi production: Her father’s costume for the role of Papageno was “a flat cap and some pan pipes on a string around his neck,”Miskimmon stated.

Miskimmon was soon drawn to the art form. As much as opera was an escape from the violence of the Troubles, part of its appeal was that it also somehow reflected them, she said: At the time, Northern Ireland was a place where people didn’t feel they had much control over their destiny, since they could “go out for an ordinary day’s work, and be blown up.”Miskimmon is the opera singer. “the characters are relentlessly driven toward heaven and hell,”It did not feel like it had much agency. It felt “a much more honest, artistic representation of life.”

Miskimmon was a student director at Cambridge University where she studied English literature. However, she did not think she would go on to become a professional director. She was then invited to Glyndebourne by Graham Vick, the British director. After working on seven productions there, she landed a job as the artistic director of the Opera Theater Company, Ireland’s national touring opera, before eventually moving to the Danish National Opera in Aarhus, and, later, the Norwegian Opera and Ballet in Oslo.

Andrew Mellor is an opera journalist who specializes on the Nordic countries. He said that Miskimmon was successful with many innovative productions that made them a talking point. Her take on Mozart’s “Così Fan Tutte” in Aarhus offered audiences two productions — one traditional, one contemporary — and began each night with a vote to decide which would be staged. The opera Miskimmon, which was also commissioned in Aarhus, was equally captivating. “Brothers,”About Danish soldiers who have experienced post-traumatic stress following combat in Afghanistan.

More was her time in Oslo “turbulent,”Mellor stated. The Norwegian company’s music director, Karl-Heinz Steffens, left before Miskimmon even started, and she “had a fight with its ensemble system”Mellor suggested that she use more guest singers when she requested. Amid the conflict, Miskimmon staged several acclaimed productions, including one of Britten’s “Billy Budd”This featured a gigantic submarine on stage.

“She’s no shrinking violet, and when she has an idea she pursues it,”Mellor stated.

Miskimmon spoke of her “memories of working in Oslo are not ones of turbulence,”She also stated that she believed it was “a very positive working experience.”