Jose Cortés is an American opera stage director based in Germany. Born in Puerto Rico he was awarded the prestigious Theatre, Opera and Performing Arts scholarship by the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes, Germany's largest, oldest and most prestigious scholarship foundation, with a project on Donizetti's Tudor queens trilogy. He recently graduated in opera stage direction studies at the Hans Eisler Music School in Berlin. 

OPERA WORKS

Some of the opera titles he has directed include Cosi fan tutte, Die Fledermaus, La Calisto, scenes from Sadko by Rimsky-Korsakov, The Tsar's bride and Schneeflöckchen.

Currently José is working on a new piece he is writing and will direct composed by Constantin Stimmer: "Kafka's diaries".  

His collaborations as assistant director include Komische Oper Berlin (Der Vampyr, Marschner), Deutsche Oper Berlin (Neue Szenen), Staatsoper Berlin (Barock Festival, Autumn 2020), Oper Graz (Arianne et Barbe Bleu) and Neuköllner Oper (Das schwarze Wasser). 

Finished concepts for new productions include Tosca, Elektra, Tannhäuser,  Don Giovanni and Don Carlo.  

STUDIES

He graduated from the Central School of Visual Arts where he studied painting, sculpture, architecture, fashion, graphic and industrial design, art history and photography, followed by studies in Literature and Theater at University of Puerto Rico.  

Seminars with Katharina Wagner, Philipp Bröking, Claus Guth, Tatjana Gürbaca, Nadja Loschky, Michiel Dijkema, Andrea Moses, Hans Neuenfels, and Opernwelt's Jürgen Otten.