Damien Cooper

Among the Australian lighting designer’s most recent operatic engagements have been Peter Grimes (Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company), Aida (Opera Australia in Melbourne and Sydney), Così fan tutte (Sydney), Chorus (Houston Grand Opera) and Neil Armfield’s production of the Ring cycle (Opera Australia). Cooper’s design for Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream was seen on the major stages of Houston and Toronto in addition to Lyric. Theater credits include Exit the King (Broadway revival), Spring Awakening (Australian Theatre for Young People), The Tempest (Bell Shakespeare), The Lost Echo and The Women of Troy, directed by Barrie Kosky (Sydney Theatre Company) and many works directed by Neil Armfield at Belvoir St Theatre, including Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Gethsemane, Stuff Happens, and Toy Symphony. Cooper has also designed for many major Australian dance companies, among them the Australian Ballet (Swan Lake, with tours in New York, London, Paris, and Tokyo; Firebird, The Narrative of Nothing), Australian Dance Theatre (Birdbrain, Be Your Self, Habitus for the Adelaide Festival), and Shaun Parker Company (Am I). The recipient of the inaugural Australian Production Designers Guild Award for Lighting Design for his work on Opera Australia’s Ring cycle.

Previously at Lyric: The Magic Flute (2016|17); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2010|11).

Last updated: December 10, 2016