In 2011, Rolando Villazón made his debut as a stage director with the critically and publically acclaimed production of Massenet’s Werther with the Opéra Lyon. In 2012 he directed Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden. In the same production, labeled a “double triumph” and broadcast on international TV in December 2012, he also sang the part of Nemorino. The 14/15 season saw Rolando Villazón directing three new productions: he made his debut at Vienna Volksoper where he directed Donizetti’s Viva la mamma and, in his directorial debut there, staged Puccini’s La rondine for Deutsche Oper Berlin. He returned to Baden-Baden’s Festspielhaus to direct a new production of Verdi’s La traviata and directed an acclaimed production of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale for Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf. He returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2017/18 to direct a new production of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus. In 2019, he made his directorial debut with the Staatsoper Dresden with a new production of Rameau’s Platée, followed by his production of L’elisir d’amore at the Oper Leipzig, as well as a new production of Bellini’s I puritani at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf. His production of L’elisir d’amore was re-staged at Oper Leipzig in 2019. In the 2020-21 season he directed Bellini’s La sonnambula at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. By the end of season 2021-22 he directed Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Whitsun Festival Salzburg as well as at the Salzburg Festival 2022.