David Finn

Biography

Since his operatic debut in 1997, the work of the internationally celebrated lighting designer has earned praise at such companies as the Metropolitan Opera (Parsifal, Tosca, The Flying Dutchman), the Salzburg Festival (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Dutch National Opera (Boris Godunov, Lucio Silla, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte, The Marriage of Figaro, Hansel and Gretel), the Royal Opera House (Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung, Tannhäuser, The Flying Dutchman, Peter Grimes), and the Stuttgart Opera (Das Rheingold, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Orfeo).

Highlights of the most recent seasons include designs for Macbeth (Chicago Lyric Opera), Così fan tutte (Opera Australia), SYM-PHONIE ММXX (Berlin Staatsballett), Anna Karenina (Australian Ballet), and The Seagull (Bolshoi Ballet).

He also has enjoyed successes in films, including Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, and with Cirque du Soleil (ZED, Michael Jackson ONE and R.U.N.).

Finn hasdesigned for many renowned choreographers including Sasha Waltz, Yuri Possokhov, Hanya Holm, Merce Cunningham, Twyla Tharp, Liam Scarlett, Sir Peter Wright, amongst others, and for companies such as the Paris Opéra Ballet (Roméo et Juliette), the Royal Ballet (Swan Lake, Giselle, Sweet Violets, Symphonic Dances), the Birmingham Royal Ballet (The Nutcracker, Cinderella), the Bavarian State Ballet (Swan Lake), the San Francisco Ballet, Twyla Tharp & Dancers, The Atlanta Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and eight years as resident designer for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project.

Finn has received three Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Siegfried, Die Walkure, Rusalka), a Yomiuri Award (The Hunting Gun, Parco Theater in Tokyo), a Knight of Illumination Award (Sweet Violets, Royal Ballet), a Yomiuri Award for Excellence in Lighting Design (The Hunting Gun, Tokyo) and is nominated for a Golden Mask Award for The Seagull, Bolshoi Ballet 2021.