Works
Overview
John Macfarlane

John studied at the Glasgow School of Art and pursues parallel careers in theatre and painting.

 

Opera designs include Peter Grimes, Magic Flute, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Duke Bluebeard's Castle/Erwartung and L'Heure espagnole/Gianni Schicchi (Royal Opera), Hansel and Gretel (Welsh National Opera, Metropolitan Opera, New York), The Queen of Spades (Welsh National Opera), War and Peace (Opéra Bastille), La Clemenza di Tito (Paris Opéra), Agrippina (La Monnaie, Brussels), The Trojans (English National Opera), Don Giovanni (La Monnaie, San Francisco), Idomeneo (Vienna), Elektra and Rusalka (Lyric Opera Chicago), The Rake's Progress (Scottish Opera) and Maria Stuarda (Metropolitan Opera). His most recent opera designs are for Tosca, together with Flying Dutchman and Agrippina (all for Metropolitan Opera, New York) and Macbeth (Lyric Opera Chicago and Canadian National Opera).

 

Dance designs include Sir Peter Wright's Giselle (Royal Ballet) Tetley's La Ronde and Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein, Asphodel Meadows, Sweet Violets and The Age of Anxiety (Royal Ballet), Hummingbird (San Francisco Ballet and Joffrey Ballet), and The Nutcracker, Cinderella and Le Baiser de la fée (Birmingham Royal Ballet).

 

His most recent ballet designs were the sets and costumes for Swan Lake (Royal Ballet).

 

In 2015 (Hummingbird) and again in 2019 (Swan Lake) he was awarded the designer's laureate of Benois de la Danse (Moscow). He is a Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and a judge of the Linbury Prize.

Exhibitions