Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Cara Consilvio is a director and producer of opera, theater, and film. For the 2026/27 Season, Consilvio is the Guest Artistic Director for Opera Grand Rapids. Recent directing projects include productions of La Bohème for Portland Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, and Opera Carolina. Other recent productions include Carmen and The Elixir of Love for Charlottesville Opera.

Consilvio is passionate about New Work and has directed nine World Premieres; Bernadette’s Cozy Book Nook by Joe Illick and Mark Campbell for Fort Worth Opera, Inheritance by Lei Liang and Matt Donovan at UC San Diego, Our Trudy by Anna Pidgorna and Maria Reva for Ad Astra Music Festival, Let’s Celebrate, three short chamber operas for White Snake Projects, I Give You My Home by Beth Weimann for Guerilla Opera, and The Leader by Karim Al-Zand and Kassandra by Anthony Brandt and Neena Beber, which both premiered at Opera in the Heights. Consilvio has also directed new productions of contemporary operas such as Glory Denied, After Life, Scalia/Ginsburg, The Last American Hammer, Penny, Second Nature, and An American Dream.

Other directing highlights include Hydrogen Jukebox at The Chautauqua Opera, Rigoletto for HALO, Suor Angelica at Tri-Cities Opera, The Threepenny Opera for Syracuse Opera, The Sound of Music for Charlottesville Opera, The Elixir of Love for Piedmont Opera and Il Trovatore for Opera in the Heights.

As a teacher and guest director, Consilvio has taught at Oberlin Conservatory, The Boston University Opera Institute and directed productions for Loyola University at New Orleans, The Cleveland Institute of Music, UC San Diego, Depauw University and The Hartt School of Music. Consilvio brings her extensive performance background and training as a dancer, actor, and singer to her work. She earned a BA in Dramatic Art and Dance from University of California at Berkeley. She pursued advanced acting training with the American Conservatory Theater and Williamstown Theater Festival and completed three years of post-baccalaureate studies in vocal performance at SUNY Fredonia.

Consilvio is a co-founder of Hup! Productions. Her feature film debut, For the Love of Friends, is currently streaming on PBS Passport. Other film directing projects include narrative short films C.I.T., and Dry. Consilvio is a producer and co-story writer of the horror comedy feature film Camp Wedding, which is distributed by Gravitas Pictures. She has also produced and directed many tribute videos, promotional videos, and behind the scenes mini-docs for the NEA Opera Honors, the NEA Jazz Masters videos, OPERA America, and the American Composers Orchestra.