John Otto

After completing his studies in industrial design, John Otto (New Zealand) became an assistant designer at the New Zealand Opera and Ballet Companies and at the Australian Opera in the Sydney Opera House. Thanks to a scholarship, he furthered his studies under Margaret Harris at the Motley Theatre Design Course, after which he made his design debut with Darius Milhaud’s Les Malheurs d’Orphée for De Nederlandse Opera (now: Dutch National Opera) in Amsterdam.

Otto has designed sets for venues including Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Maggio Musicale Florence, Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa in Warsaw, The National Ballet of Canada, San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Vancouver Opera, Athens Festival, Holland Festival, Wexford Festival, Aldeburgh Festival, Staatsoper Hannover, Semperoperballett Dresden, Crucible Theatre, Sadler’s Wells, Scottish Ballet, Lyric Hammersmith, Almeida Theatre, Het Nationale Ballet, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, the Nationale Reisopera, and Ballet Vlaanderen.

In addition to ANIMA ANIMUS, Otto collaborated with David Dawson on his ballets The Disappeared, The World According to Us, Sweet Spell of Oblivion, The Third Light, dancingmadlybackwards, Empire Noir, and Swan Lake. In 2022, Otto provided the set design for Legacy Variations, created by Dawson for three dancers of Dutch National Ballet.

Last update: 27-03-2024