An actor and director of plays and musicals for over 20 years before focusing her career on opera, Helena Binder has earned praise for her direction of Ermione, Il ritorno d’Ulisse, and Madame Butterfly for New York City Opera, and for her productions of Minnesota Opera’s L’italiana in Algeri, and Tales of Hoffmann. Her production of The Barber of Seville for The Dallas Opera was named one of the Top Ten Classical Performances of 2006 by the Dallas Morning News. She has directed Fidelio for Pittsburgh Opera, Madame Butterfly for Opera Toledo, L’italiana in Algeri and La Boheme for Lake George Opera, Madame Butterfly and The Magic Flute for Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, La Traviata and Hansel and Gretel for Opera Roanoke, and has staged productions for The New York State Theatre Institute, Leatherstocking Theatre, Lake George Dinner Theatre, Union College and Home Made Theater among others which include Noises Off, Greater Tuna, Foxfire, Wait Until Dark, A Life in the Theatre, Equus, Ten Little Indians and Charlotte’s Web. Most recently Ms. Binder directed Rodelinda and Fidelio for Portland Opera, La Boheme for Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, and Brundibar for Opera Omaha, and her 2009 production of Madama Butterfly for Lake George Opera was hailed as the “best thing the company has done in recent memory.”

She has been director of the Legislative Correspondents Association Show, the oldest political satire revue in the country, for the past 27 years. A choreographer as well, Ms. Binder choreographed Queen of Spades, Luisa Miller and Le nozze di Figaro for The Dallas Opera, and Bluebeard and La Calisto for Glimmerglass Opera where she also went on for an ailing countertenor. As an actor, she has performed in regional theatre in the United States and abroad in roles ranging from Peter Pan to Shakespeare’s Juliet, and was singer in the rock n’ roll group, Blotto, that recorded the hit I Wanna Be A Lifeguard.

A committed arts educator, Ms. Binder taught acting at Union College and founded The Acting School, a studio for children and adults, in Schenectady, New York. Along with coaching singers and actors across the country, she is an image consultant who has worked with the young artist programs of Minnesota, Portland, Lake George and Glimmerglass Operas. She is a Lecturer in Acting in the Opera Institute of Boston University’s School of Fine Arts.