Argentinian-italian Stage Director José Darío Innella is a former Jette Parker Young Artist, at the Royal Opera House, London. Born in Mendoza, Argentina, he graduated as a Stage Director from the Teatro Colón School of Opera. He also studied Set Design at the Set Design College of the Universidad Nacional de Cuyo and movie and TV- integral production at CineCIC (Cinematographic Investigation Centre) in Buenos Aires. He has attended acting, design, voice, dance, piano, and stage fighting classes in Mendoza, Buenos Aires, London and New York.
Acted in several theatrical shows: Yerma (Lorca), De Pies y Manos (Cossa), De Actores y Otras Alimañas, o sía siempre y cuando la Tere se quede a dormir, and others. Also acted in operas: The Medium Tobi (Menotti), La Serva Padrona Vespone (Pergolesi) and Hin und Züruck Tante Emma (Hindemith) among other operas. He performed in several theatres in Argentina, among them the Experimental Center of the Teatro Colón, Teatro Cervantes and Teatro Margarita Xirgu.
He has acted as Production Designer and Art Director on many short films, among others: El viaje, by Camilo Gutierrez, Hell’s Kitchen, by Lucas Santa Ana and El Limón Verde, by Fernando Daneri with which he participated on many festivals, like the 16to. Marato de Cinema Fantastic de Terror in Barcelona and in Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre 2004. He directed also several theatre productions, most recently Oceanía by Francisco Ortiz.
At the Royal Opera House, was Assistant Director for Don Carlo (Verdi, directed by Nicholas Hytner), Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss, directed by John Schlesinger, revival director: Andrew Sinclair), The Rake’s Progress (Stravinsky, directed by Robert Lapage), Powder Her Face (Adés, directed by Carlos Wagner), Tamerlano (Handel, directed by Graham Vick) and Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart, directed by David McVicar); at the Teatro Real, Madrid, was Assistant Director for La Bohème (Puccini, directed by Richard Jones), Die Zauberflöte (Mozart, directed by Barrie Kosky) and Don Giovanni (Mozart, directed by Claus Guth); at the Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, was Assistant Director for Rodelinda (Händel, directed by Claus Guth), at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden was Assistant Director for Cosi fan tutte (Mozart, directed by Vincent Huguet), at the Opera National de Montpellier was Revival Director for Werther (Massenet, directed by Bruno Ravella) and at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie was Associate Director for Aída (Verdi, directed by Stathis Livathinos).
In 2009, directed The Truth About Love, a little less than fate, a fully staged dramatic show based on three song cycles by Britten, Schumann and Ebel at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre.
In 2010 he directed the Summer Performance featuring excerpts from Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio, Die Schweigsame Frau, Intermezzo (R. Strauss), Der Zigeunerbaron, Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss II), La Belle Hélène (Offenbach) and Naughty Marietta (Herbert) in the Royal Opera House’s Main Auditorium.
Since his Stage Director debut with Cosí fan Tutte (Mozart), conducted by Dante Ranieri -where he also designed costumes- he has directed several operas, operettas and zarzuelas, including La Traviata, Aída (Verdi), Alcina (Händel) L’Italiana in Algeri, Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Rossini), Cosí Fan Tutte (Mozart), L’elisir d’amore, Don Pasquale (Donizetti), La Voix Humaine (Poulenc), Carmen (Bizet) Pagliacci (Leoncavallo), Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni), La Bohème, Madama Butterfly (Puccini), Die Lustige Witwe (Lehàr), Die Fledermaus (J.Strauss), Il Maestro di Musica (Pergolesi), Il Maestro di Cappella, Il Matrimonio Segreto (Cimarosa), Master Peter’s Puppet Show (de Falla), Marina (Arrieta), La Leyenda del Beso, La Del Soto del Parral (Soutullo and Vert), Luisa Fernanda (Moreno Torroba), El Barberillo de Lavapiés (Barbieri), El dúo de La Africana (Caballero), La Rosa del Azafrán (Guerrero), El Asombro de Damasco (Luna), and Doña Francisquita (Vives) in Buenos Aires and other Argentinian cities, including the Teatro Colón Chamber Opera, Teatro Colón’s Experimental Center and Teatro Avenida. Abroad, he directed at the Teatro Pérez Galdós, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Teatro Romea, Murcia, Teatro Melico Salazar, San José de Costa Rica and Medellín Metropolitan Theatre.