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Daniel Helfgot (born December 24, 19xx in xxxxx, Agentina) is an American writer and director, best known for his work directing operas, operettas and zarzuelas.

Biography
Daniel Helfgot's credits include over 200 productions of over 100 operas, operettas and zarzuelas from the Baroque to the contemporary, including several world premieres. His international credits include shows in Argentina (both at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires and the Teatro Argentino, La Plata), Austria, Canada, Costa Rica (Opera Nacional), Finland, Germany, Mexico (Opera Nacional), and Sweden. In the US he has directed for such companies as Baltimore; Billings (Montana), Festival Opera (California), Chattanooga, Eugene, Knoxville, Memphis, Orlando, Shreveport, Pennsylvania Festival, Sacramento, Spring Opera and Western Opera Theater of San Francisco, Utah Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and the Virginia Opera.

From 1982 to 2000 Mr. Helfgot was the Resident Director and Director of Production for Opera San José where he created 60 productions defining the company's artistic output, established all its production departments and led the design process for the renovation of its performing venues, the Montgomery and the California Theaters of San José. He was also Producer and Director for the Pennsylvania Opera Theater in Pittsburgh, PA.

In Argentina, he was Production Director and Artistic Coordinator for the Opera, Ballet and Symphony seasons at the Teatro Argentino and directed the Project for the Design and Development of the Center for Performing Arts in La Plata, where he also founded the Teatro Musical de Cámara and the Festival Musical de Noviembre, and was Resident Assistant Director and Rehearsals Coordinator for the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.

His directorial work also includes tango and cabaret shows and he has written and perform scripts and narrations for different stage genres.

Helfgot has produced several opera radio programs and directed opera broadcasts of operatic productions for television in Argentina and an award winning production for PBS in the US.

As a journalist, also in Argentina, he was the editor of the Sunday’s edition of the daily El Día where he wrote extensively about music and the arts and also founded and directed the by-monthly Ritmo, a magazine dedicated to the performing arts and architecture.

Helfgot has translated opera libretti from Italian, Spanish, German and French for English and Spanish supertitles and written operatic dialogue versions for the English, Spanish and German repertoire.

He is also the author of the libretto for the opera The Tale of the Nutcracker with music by Craig Bohmler premiered in 1999.

He has received the Opera Director of the Year 2009 award from the Classical Singer Magazine, an award from the Arts Council Silicon Valley and has been honored with the Koret Israel Prize.

Mr. Helfgot is the author of The Third Line: The Opera Performer as Interpreter, a widely used book on the training of singers.

His teaching experience includes a guest professorship at the Musikhochschule of the Vienna University, Austria and the leadership of the Vocal and Vocal Accompanying Programs at the Music Academy of the West, Santa Barbara, California. He has taught guest appearances at the National Academy of the Arts in Taipei, Taiwan; the Instituto Superior de Arte, Teatro Colón, Argentina; the Academy of Music in Åland, Finland, etc.

Helfgot serves on the advisory boards of OperaWorks and the San José Chamber Orchestra.

Notable productions

 * Franzetti, Carlos, Corpus Evita (2005) - world premiere
 * Henderson, Alva, West Of Washington Square (1988) - world premiere
 * Mollicone, Henry, Hotel Eden (1989) - world premiere
 * Reese, Mona Lyn, The Three Fat Women Of Antibes (2009) - world premiere
 * Roumanis, George, Ode to PHÆDRA (2006) - world premiere

Awards

 * Director of the Year - Classical Singer Magazine (2009)
 * Koret Israel Prize