George R. Miller is an opera director. He creates sensorially rich, emotionally precise worlds that reckon with history, power, body, and voice through sound, text, image, and action. As both a director and producer, Miller is dedicated to platforming and reimagining canonical repertoire while championing newly created works. With a background in music theory and visual art, his multidisciplinary, site-responsive approach seeks to bring new life to classical forms. His productions have been called “stunning” (LA Dance Chronicle), “superbly directed” (San Francisco Classical Voice), “coalescing into one undeniable impact” (San Francisco Classical Voice).
Professional highlights include directorial work presented at Carnegie Hall, Hebbel am Ufer (HAU, Berlin), Opera Philadelphia, REDCAT, Opera Saratoga, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Amant Center, Pioneer Works, The Berggruen Institute, Pageant, and Wild Up, among others.
Recently, George opened Long Beach Opera’s season to high acclaim with the world premiere of ISOLA, a monodrama by composer Alyssa Weinberg and poet J. Mae Barizo, featuring soprano Ariadne Greif and dancer–choreographer Julia Eichten. He is currently developing a new production of Winterreise with award-winning bass-baritone William Socolof, alongside an adaptation of Sieben Frühe Lieder by Alban Berg with composer-performers Eliza Bagg and Rohan Chander, which premiered at REDCAT’s 2024 NOW Festival. Of that production, LA Dance Review noted, “Every detail seemed carefully staged, from the slide of Bagg’s hand against her skin to her gaze shifting in and out of focus, lending purpose and clarity to each moment.”
In spring 2025, George joined the Manhattan School of Music as a guest director to lead Handel’s Rinaldo with the Graduate Vocal Arts Division, resetting the absurd baroque comedy as a WWE wrestling match. Voce Di Mache, the notorious blog critic of NYC student productions, wrote: “Miller’s work doesn’t speak, it screams… No wonder the young cast and young audience enjoy it so much.”
Throughout his training, George worked with companies and presenters across the U.S. and abroad, including the American Repertory Theater, American Modern Opera Company (AMOC), Beth Morrison Projects, Brooklyn Museum, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Ravinia Festival & PBS Great Performances, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, and Savvy Contemporary (Berlin).
He has been a guest speaker at Vanderbilt University, the Manhattan School of Music, The New School, and Coaxial Arts Foundation.
In 2023, George was a lead producer for the performance-art organization Performa, founded by art historian RoseLee Goldberg, where he helped produce the Performa23 Biennial in New York City, developing work with artists Nikita Gale, Teo Ala-Ruona, KMRU, and Alexa West.
This season, George made both his European and Carnegie Hall debuts. In Europe, he directs writer, musician, and performance artist Johanna Hedva in a new work at Berlin’s Hebbel am Ufer (HAU2) as part of Creamcake Festival. They will further develop the piece as artists-in-residence at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto, Italy — the former studios of Anna Mahler and Sol LeWitt. At Carnegie, he staged a pairing of Symphony No. 3 by Philip Glass and the world premiere of Cloud Variations by poet J. Mae Barizo, marking their second collaboration, this time with The Knights Orchestra in Zankel Hall. He has been a regular guest artist with the opera program at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he served as associate director for a new production of Britten’s The Turn of the Screw, and is currently directing a staged evening of Mozart scenes with the UCLA Philharmonia Orchestra in the Herb Alpert School of Music’s Schoenberg Hall.
Portfolio and CV are available upon request. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.