Class of 2013, Music Performance-Voice and Psychology Double Major

Originally from Chicago, IL, Melanie Bacaling (she/her) is an active Stage Director and Artistic Collaborator in the opera industry. She is currently on the Stage Directing Staff at The Metropolitan Opera. Recent projects include Assistant Directing at Santa Fe Opera and Chicago Lyric Opera in addition to her film directing debut with Boston Lyric Opera, a concert docu-series titled B., which can be found on operabox.tv.

Ms. Bacaling holds production credits with LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Detroit Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington Concert Opera, Aspen Opera Center, Sun Valley Music Festival, The Boston Conservatory, and Longy School of Music. She is training to be an Intimacy Director and she is passionate about creating actively inclusive artistic spaces, interrogating what it takes to decolonize the rehearsal room.

As a Producer, Ms. Bacaling worked with Boston Lyric Opera to create We Need to Listen, a series of conversations highlighting the racial inequities that exist in classical music and opera. Also with BLO, she curated and produced BLO’s podcast at its (s)core, which seeks to delve into the inner workings of the opera industry and highlight voices of BLO's BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities. With Opera Omaha, Ms. Bacaling produced and co-curated the inaugural season of Amplifying the Black Experience with Soprano Chabrelle Williams, a program which is now lead by Creative Director and Change Agent Andrea Joy Pearson.

Trained as a vocalist and pedagogue, Ms. Bacaling holds a BM in Voice and BS in Psychology from the University of Evansville, as well as an MM in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the Boston Conservatory.