Ilaria Lanzino works as stage director, lecturer and librettist in several institutions, theatres and opera houses in Europa.

Ilaria Lanzino was born in Pisa, Italy. After completing her music studies at the Conservatory Luigi Boccherini in Lucca with excellent grades, she studied German Literature  at the University of "Ca 'Foscari" in Venice and graduated with a thesis on “Literature of Resistance in Concentration Camps” earning best marks (110 cum laude). 

Moreover she got specialised in the field of “Physical Theatre” in different institutions in Europe (Jacques Lecoq Ecole Paris, NIPAI Berlin, London Mime Festival, Cockpit London).  

She gained her first theatre experiences as stage director assistant working with directors like Benedikt von Peter, Jens-Daniel Herzog, Elisabeth Stöppler, Dietrich Hilsdorf, Axel Köhler and Michael Thalheimer. Before she started her freelance career as a director, she was based at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein as stage director assistant.

In January 2020 Lanzino won the First Prize of the renowned „European Opera Directing Prize".  

Since then she has been working in the most important Opera Houses in Germany and Europe: MusikTheater an der Wien (Gasparini, „Hamlet“, Caccini „La Liberazione di Ruggiero“), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Händel „La Resurrezione“), Staatsoper Hannover (Korngold „Die tote Stadt“), Göteborg Opera (Verdi, “Luisa Miller”), Oper Graz (Rossini „La Cenerentola“), Staatstheater Nürnberg (Telemann „Pimpinone”, Bartók „Herzog Blaubarts Burg”, Donizetti „L’elisir d’amore”,  Walpurgis „Talestri“, Donizetti „Lucia di Lammermoor“, Verdi “La Traviata”), Oper Leipzig ( Musgrave „Mary, Queen of Scots“, Mozart „Le Nozze di Figaro“), Aalto MusikTheater Essen (Loewe „My Fair Lady“), Deutschen Oper am Rhein (Verdi „Nabucco“, Ullmann „Der Kaiser von Atlantis”, Syrse „Der Kiosk”, Ronchetti „Das Fliegende Klassenzimmer“), Staatstheater Wiesbaden (Moniuszko „Straszny Dwór“), Theater Magdeburg (Davies/Bartók „Mad King Blaubart“, Beethoven „Fidelio“), Opernhaus Poznan (Moniuszko „Straszny Dwór”, „Jawnuta“), Theater Dortmund (Tidrows „Kirsas Musik“, Mozart Don Giovanni, DNT Weimar (Rossini „Il Barbiere di Siviglia“).

2027 Lanzino will make her debut at the Bayreuther Festspiele with her direction of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.

Lanzino has been invited as speaker to many panels during the Opera Europa Conferences, the Green Opera Conference and to the World Opera Forum  in Los Angeles. She is regularly invited by universities to held seminars and discussions, including the Scuola Normale Superiore, Universität Leipzig, the Musikhochschule Weimar, the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and the Universität für Musik in Würzburg.

Lanzinos productions have been nominated for the International Opera Awards („Jawnuta“, winner / „Mary Queen of Scots“, nominated), for the YAM Award, and for the EOP. The productions „Mary, Queen of Scots“, „La Cenerentola“, „Hamlet“, „La Resurrezione“ and „Nabucco“ have received a special mention in the annual overviews of magazines and newspapers such as Die Opernwelt, Die Kleine Zeitung, WAZ, ArtPost, Il Foglio.

For the 15th edition of the European Opera Directing Prize Lanzino is going to be a jury member.