One of the busiest theatrical talents from America's heartland, Stanley M. Garner recently directed the LA Opera's 20th Anniversary Gala. He has directed productions of Un Ballo in Maschera for Vancouver Opera, Die Zauberflöte for the Seattle, Los Angeles, Washington and New Zealand Operas; Don Giovanni for the Virginia Opera and New Zealand Opera; La Traviata and Aïda for both the Tulsa and Orlando Operas; The Student Prince, The Merry Widow, Madama Butterfly, Hansel und Gretel and Man of La Mancha for the Natchez Opera Festival; Tosca, Rigoletto, La Traviata, and Roméo et Juliette for the Augusta Opera; Faust for the Toledo Opera, and The Merry Widow starring Susan Graham and Bo Skohvus for Houston Grand Opera. He served as associate director to Stephen Wadsworth on the highly acclaimed production of Handel's Xerxes for the Santa Fe Opera and LA Opera - a production repeated at the Seattle Opera and Boston Lyric Opera. Also as associate director, Mr. Garner worked with Franco Zeffirelli on a new production of Pagliacci starring Plácido Domingo for LA Opera. He begins work this fall with David Cronenberg on the premiere of The Fly for LA and Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Prior to his opera directing career, audiences applauded his many portrayals as an actor, including: John Barrymore in Ned and Jack, Don Juan in Don Juan in Hell, John Worthing in The Importance of Being Earnest, Berowne in Love's Labour's Lost , and Hamlet in Hamlet. A Choctaw Indian native of Oklahoma, Mr. Garner was lauded as a performer by The Washington Post and The Washington Times for his characterization of Lamont Rook in the Mozart/Weber double bill of The Impresario/Abu Hassan for the Washington Opera. He made his international debut creating the role of Pasha Selim in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail for L'Opéra de Montréal in Québec. He also appeared in London as the Duke of Monmouth in the U.K. tour of No Heart for a Kingdom presented by Interact of Washington D.C.