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Sir David Willoughby Pountney (born 10 September 1947) is a British-Polish theatre and opera director and libretto internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works. He has directed over ten world premières, including three by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies for whom he wrote the librettos of The Doctor of Myddfai, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk and Kommilitonen!Baumgartner (22 July 2009)
His first major breakthrough came in 1972 with his production of Káťa Kabanová for the Wexford Festival. From 1975 to 1980, he was the Director of Productions at Scottish Opera, and, from 1982 to 1993, Director of Productions at English National Opera, where he directed over twenty operas. From 1993 to 2004, he worked as a free-lance director at the Zurich Opera, the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, and other houses in America, Japan, and the United Kingdom. He has also directed at De Nederlandse Opera and Opera Australia. In December 2003 he became the Intendant of the Bregenz Festival, a post he held until 2014. In April 2011 he was named head of the Welsh National Opera with his appointment as chief executive and artistic director to begin in September 2011.BBC News (1 April 2011)
He has worked as a librettist for Sir Peter Maxwell Davies on The Doctor of Myddfai, Mr Emmet Takes a Walk and Kommilitonen!, and has translated opera librettos into English from Russian, Czech, German, and Italian.Clements (21 January 2002); Christiansen (22 March 2011); White (14 July 1996)
He wrote the libretto for and directed Elena Langer's opera Figaro Gets a Divorce, which was premiered at the Welsh National Opera in February 2016. "Figaro Gets a Divorce" , Welsh National Opera website. Retrieved 19 March 2015. To great critical acclaim he directed Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at La Scala Opera House, Milan in 2018. Later that year at Strasbourg he directed Kurt Weill and Arnold Schoenberg in Das Mahagonny Songspiel, Pierrot Lunaire and Die 7 Todsunden.
He was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1994 Der Standard (11 March 2004); St. John's College, Cambridge. Honorary Fellows and was Knight Bachelor in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to opera.
He is a Patron of Bampton Classical Opera.
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