British director, producer, performance coach and educator Elaine Kidd became Head of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme during the 2017/18 Season. For The Royal Opera she has revived productions including Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Hansel and Gretel, La Fille du régiment, Eugene Onegin, L’Heure espagnole and Gianni Schicchi and been Associate Director for Boris Godunov and La bohème. In the 2017/18 Season she was Revival Director for Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.

Kidd studied Modern Languages at Oxford University and trained in movement and devising. She worked as a theatre director before moving into opera. As Head of Staff Directors for The Royal Opera (2007–10), she worked alongside Richard Jones, Laurent Pelly and Graham Vick among others, and revived Royal Opera productions overseas including Don Carlo in Oslo, Boris Godunov in Berlin, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for La Scala, Milan, La Fille du régiment in Barcelona and Manon in Tokyo. She was Director of Artistic Planning for Scottish Opera (2011-16), advising on repertory, casting and scheduling. She has more than twenty years of experience of fostering young artists and igniting a passion for opera through many community and education projects, and work in conservatoires, summer schools and for training organizations such as the National Opera Studio.

Kidd’s own productions include La bohème and La traviata (Opera Holland Park), Così fan tutte and Eugene Onegin (Diva Opera), Peter Grimes (Scottish Opera), La Scala di seta and The Rape of Lucretia (Opera Europe), Banished, Into the Woods and Mahagonny Songspiel, (Trinity Laban) and Docteur Miracle (Festival Les Azuriales).