Paul Houghtaling

Paul serves as the Director of Opera Theatre at the University of Alabama, and he is the Artistic Director of the Druid City Opera. His work with the UA Opera Theatre has won prizes at the National Opera Association’s Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition and Opera Production Competition, including a First Place win for their production of Tobias Picker’s Thérèse Raquin in 2022. The group’s outreach work in conjunction with National Opera Week has caught the attention of Opera America. Paul is a Past-President of the National Opera Association (NOA) and is still active  in the organization as a consultant and mentor to younger directors and teachers. 

 

Druid City Opera, a new professional company in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, presented Tosca in 2022 and will produce Lucia di Lammermoor in 2023. Recent seasons at Alabama have included productions ofDie Fledermaus, Don Giovanni, The Consul, The Merry Widow, Pagliacci, Suor Angelica, The Gondoliers, Patience, Così fan tutte, The Mikado, A Little Night Music and Street Scene, which was supported by a major grant from the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music. He is also an avid proponent of new works, and mounted recent chamber operas by Tony Solitro, Leanna Kirchoff, Philip Seward, Lisa DeSpain, and Rachel Peters. Recently, Houghtaling staged two world premieres:  Michael Ching’s RSBE: Remove Shoes Before Entering, and Joseph Landers’ Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, which was recorded by Alabama Public Television for broadcast later in 2020.  He holds a BA from The College of the Holy Cross, a BM from The New England Conservatory of Music, an MA from Hunter College of CUNY, and a DMA from The City University of New York.