Sam Helfrich (Director) is a theater and opera director based in New York. His recent production of the Péter Eötvös opera Angels in America at the Salzburg Landestheater was awarded the Austrian Music Theater Prize for Best Contemporary Opera Production. Other recent opera highlights include Legend of the Ring at West Edge Opera in Oakland, CA, The Flying Dutchman at Pittsburgh Opera, The Magic Flute at the Summer Opera Festival of Morelia, Mexico, the world premiere of Cosmic Cowboy with White Snake Productions in Boston, a production of Elizabeth Cree with West Edge Opera,  the world premiere of Permadeath, a CGI- based opera about video gaming with White Snake Productions in Boston, the world premiere of Jeffrey Smith's Why is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me at Urban Arias in Washington DC, Mozart’s The Magic Flute with the Indianapolis Symphony, a staging of Haydn’s Creation with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the world premiere of Dan Sonenberg's The Summer King at Pittsburgh Opera (and, recently, at Michigan Opera Theater),  Bach's St. John Passion with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Mark Anthony Turnage's Greek at Boston Lyric Opera, Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld at Virginia Opera,  the  world premiere of Enemies: A Love Story, by Ben Moore, at Palm Beach Opera, Embedded, by composer Patrick Soluri, at Fargo-Moorhead Opera and Ft. Worth Opera, Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos at Virginia Opera, Jake Heggie's Dead Man Walking at Eugene Opera, Andre Previn's A Streetcar Named Desire at Virginia Opera, the American premiere of Philip Glass' Kepler at Spoleto Festival/USA, Adams' Nixon in China at Eugene Opera, a fully staged Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony, the world premiere of Michael Dellaira's The Secret Agent at Center for Contemporary Opera in New York, the Armel Opera Festival in Hungary, and Opera Avignon, The Turn of the Screw at Boston Lyric Opera and Pittsburgh Opera, Philip Glass' Orphée at Pittsburgh Opera, Virginia Opera, Portland Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera, and Anthony Davis’ Amistad at Spoleto Festival/USA. Recent theater credits include Neil LaBute’s In A Dark, Dark House at ART/NY, Arthur Miller’s After The Fall at NYU/Tisch Grad Acting, off-Broadway productions of Owned, a world premier play by Julian Sheppard, and Tape, by Stephen Belber, and a double bill of plays by Shaw and De Musset at the Franklin Stage Company. Sam Helfrich is also an Associate Arts Professor in the department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU/Tisch, where, among other things, he is the co-director of the NYU/Tisch Opera Lab, a unique workshop for new opera development.  @iamcurioussam | samhelfrich.com