Stage Director, Costume and Set Designer

Hugo De Ana was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He began his artistic studies at the art institute affiliated to Teatro Colón and at the art school "Ernesto della Cárcova" where he graduated in visual arts and later in Scenography and Costume design for Theatre and Cinema.

He worked as Director of Production and Technical Director at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aries where he was responsible for more than thirty productions including: Turandot, Werther, Don Carlos, Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, Medea, The Rake's progress.

As producer, scenographer and costume designer he was responsible for over sixty productions including: Tosca in Stuttgart and La Rondine, La Navarraise and Cavalleria rusticana for the Long Beach Opera House. He directed La Bohème for the San Pablo Opera house in Brazil and Don Pasquale, Rigoletto, Turandot, Tosca, Il Trovatore and Eugenio Onegin in Rio De Janeiro. In Santiago/Chile he directed: Roméo et Juliette, Lucrezia Borgia, Don Carlo and Les Contes D'Hoffmann. This resulted in Hugo De Ana winning an award for best director for three consecutive years. In 1988 he began his collaboration with Madrid's Teatro Lirico/La Zarzuela and with Teatro Liceu in Barcelona where he produced Gluck's Armide, Andrea Chénier, Die Walküre, La Bohème, Otello and Ermione.

In 1990 he made his Italian debut in Bologna/Teatro Comunale with a production of Rossini's Mosè in Egitto and following this success he was invited for the inauguration of the 1991/92 season with a new production of Werther. In the 1990/1991 season he was responsible for the new production of the opera Ermione for the Opera house in Rome. In the summer of 1992 he produced Semiramide for the Rossini Opera Festival/ Pesaro. During the 1992/93 season he was responsible for the production of Manon Lescaut in the Teatro Regio in Turin and Don Carlo for the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In December 1993 he opened the season in the Teatro San Carlo in Naples with Rossini's Mosè in Egitto, a production which was later used by the Royal Opera House London.

In the 1994/95 season he directed a new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann for the Teatro Filarmonico/Verona to great critical acclaim and this production was later used in Genoa, Lille, and Catania. At the Opera of Lille he directed Carmen, a production later used in Treviso, Genoa and Venice. He opened the 1995/96 season of the Rome Opera House with his production of Iris by Mascagni. During the summer of 1996 he directed Turandot at the Macerata which was very successful and this production was then used for In June 1997 he was awarded the Abbiati prize for best producer and Scenography for his production of Iris for the opera of Rome, Turandot in Macerata and the Les Contes d'Hoffmann in Genoa. In the 1997/98 season he inaugurated the Rome opera season with a production of La Fiamma by Respighi, conducted by Gianluigi Gelmetti, and his Scala debut with Lucrezia Borgia. In August 1998 he directed Turandot for the Macerata Arena to enormous critical acclaim and this production was restaged for the New Israeli Opera at the amphitheatre of Caesarea.

The 1998/99 season saw a new production of Aida at the Teatro Real Madrid and the revival of the Rossini Opera Festival production of Semiramide in Geneva's Gran Théâtre and Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Rome. In 2000 he produced for La Scala in Milan La Forza del destino directed by Riccardo Muti, with a tour in Japan in September 2000, and for this production he was awarded The Opera Prize for best producer, scenographer and costume designer. He produced Le Cid for Teatro della Maestranza/Seville, this production was then staged in Washington with Placido Domingo; in Verona a new production of Nabucco directed by Daniel Oren and in Macerata, Arena Sferisterio, Aida. For the opening of the 2000/2001 season of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan he was the director, set and costume designer of the production of Il Trovatore, conducted by Riccardo Muti.

In 2001 he produced Don Carlo at the Teatro Real in Madrid, which was also performed at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa; in Macerata, Teatro Lauro Rossi, Kurt Weill Der Lindbergflug and Die sieben Todsünden, conducted by Bruno Bartoletti; and at the Arena Sferisterio in Macerata he staged his production of Aida once again. For this production he was awarded, in October 2001, the First Prize by the magazine "Opera" for best producer, scenographer and costume designer. In the season 2001/2002 he revived Turandot in Tokyo, New National Theatre, and produced Samson et Dalila at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, which was reproduced at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan. Also Carmen was reproduced in Genoa at the Teatro Carlo Felice, conducted by Michel Plasson. In 2002 he was awarded with the Premio della Critica Musicale "Franco Abbiati", as the best director, set and costume designer for the 2000/2001 season, "per la profondità interpretativa e la bellezza spettacolare del Don Carlo di Verdi (Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova), e per l'allestimento del dittico Volo di Lindbergh/Sette peccati capitali di Brecht/Weill (Teatro Rossi, Macerata)".

In the 2002/2003 season he was in Tokyo, Fujiwara Opera/The Japan Opera Foundation, for a new production of L'Elisir d'amore; in Rome at the Teatro dell'Opera for a new production of Faust, in coproduction with the Teatro Regio in Turin. Most recently, in 2003, he was the director, set and costume designer of a new production of Norma in Tokyo at the New National Theatre, which will be reproduced in the Teatro Filarmonico in Verona in January/February 2004.

April 2006