Artistic director of Opera Santa Barbara, Jose Maria Condemi has directed Così fan tutte, Tosca, The Elixir of Love for Families, Faust, Madama Butterfly, and Carmen at San Francisco Opera as well as Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, La Bohème, and La Cenerentola for the Merola Opera Program. A former Adler Fellow and Merola Opera Program alumnus, his notable engagements include a new production of Ernani, Tristan und Isolde, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia (student matinee) for Lyric Opera Chicago; Luisa Miller for the Canadian Opera Company; La Bohème and Il Trovatore for Seattle Opera; Ainadamar and Don Giovanni for Cincinnati Opera; Maria Padilla for Minnesota Opera; Il Trovatore for Austin Lyric Opera; Die Zauberflöte, L'Elisir d'Amore, Don Pasquale, and La Rondine with Opera San Jose; and Poulenc's Les Mamelles de Tirésias for the University of Cincinnati, a production which earned him the first prize in the 2000 U.S.A. National Opera Association Competition. Condemi’s collaboration with contemporary opera composers includes directing the world premieres of Armienta's River of Women and The Weeping Woman as well as the workshop performance of Spratlan’s Earthrise, commissioned by San Francisco Opera. His directing credits in theater include Churchill's Mad Forest, Dürrenmatt's The Physicists, Dorfman's Death and the Maiden, and Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. Recent credits include Così fan tutte for Atlanta Opera and return engagements with Seattle Opera and Cincinnati Opera.