Lisa Nava - Director

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After studying art and piano at the Scuola Civica di Musica in Milan, Lisa Nava pursued theatre and film studies at the University of Milan, graduating with a thesis on musical theatre direction. During her academic years, she began working in film production before moving into opera, where since 2002 she has worked as assistant director and stage manager at major national and international opera houses and festivals. Lisa made her opera directing debut in 2006 at the Delle Erbe Theatre in Milan with Così fan tutte. In 2009, at the Piccolo Teatro Studio Melato in Milan, she directed Ferrovia Sopraelevata by Dino Buzzati and Luciano Chailly. The following year she worked on Poème électronique by Edgard Varèse and Le Corbusier. In 2013 she was selected for the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab in New York and later that year invited to the TPAM Directors Lab in St. Petersburg. In 2016 she wrote her first feature screenplay and moved to New York City, where she became resident stage director at the Manhattan Opera Studio. There she directed productions at the National Opera Center, Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, and the St. Jean Theatre, including a full staging of Die Walküre in 2019. Lisa has collaborated with theaters and festivals in Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. In 2018 she was invited to Beirut, where she became one of the founding members of Directors Lab Mediterranean. That same year she co-directed Ba-ta-clan by Jacques Offenbach at the Caio Melisso Theatre for Teatro Lirico Sperimentale in Spoleto, with whom she has continued to collaborate. During the 2020 lockdown she created the documentary Waterandbirds, featuring an original soundtrack by David Torn. In 2024 she collaborated with pianist Alfonso Alberti on the staging of an unpublished work by Giorgio Gaslini, presented in Milan. Most recently, Lisa collaborated with Francesco Sarcina on the dramaturgy of the new rock opera Immensamente Giulia, which she was set to direct for its scheduled premiere at the Teatro Nazionale in Milan in March 2026. She is currently in pre-production for the short film Spotshot, which she wrote and will direct, supported by production funding from the Italian Ministry of Culture (MIC). She is also developing a new international Directors Lab project in Spain and expanding her work into the German-speaking market.