John Otto

On finishing his Industrial Design studies John Otto ( New Zealand ) worked with the New Zealand Opera & Ballet Company and also the Australian Opera at the Sydney Opera House. He was awarded a scholarship to study under Margaret Harris at the Motley Design Course in London and made his design debut with Darius Milhaud’s "Les Malheurs d’Orphée" with the Netherlands Opera in Amsterdam.

His designs for opera, ballet and theatre have since appeared on many stages including: Teatro alla Scala Milan, Maggio Musicale Florence, Norwegian National Ballet Oslo, Polish National Ballet Warsaw, National Ballet of Canada Toronto, Vancouver Opera, San Francisco Ballet, Philadelphia Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet Seattle. Athens Festival, Holland Festival, Wexford Festival, Aldeburgh Festival. Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Hannover, Scottish Ballet Glagow, Crucible Theatre Sheffield, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, Almeida Theatre and Lyric Hammersmith, London. Dutch National Ballet Amsterdam, Scapino Ballet Rotterdam, Dutch National Touring Opera and Opera Ballet Vlaanderen Antwerp.

Designs for David Dawson: “The Disappeared”, “The World According to Us”, “Sweet Spell of Oblivion”, “The Third Light”, “dancingmadlybackwards”, “Empire Noir”, “Swan Lake”, “Legacy Variations” and most recently “Anima Animus” for the Dutch National Ballet.