Download Press Bio Directing opera and classical theatre rank highly among Brian von Rueden's passions. At the age of 17, he staged Richard Wilbur's translation of Molière's classic comedy Amphitryon. He followed this with directing a cast of eight to thirteen year-olds in Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing for Valparaiso University's Young Actors Shakespeare Workshop. He studied directing at the university level with John Steven Paul and Michael Ehrman, and worked closely with Talmage Fauntleroy as a part of Studio Lirico in Italy. Brian served as director and assistant choreographer for the musicals A...My Name is Alice, The Fantasticks, and You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown and has directed performances of the rarely seen operas A Childhood Miracle by Ned Rorem and The Scarf by Lee Hoiby. In his former role as Director of Opera and Voice for Millennium Chamber Players, he staged well-received performances of Holst's The Wandering Scholar, Walton's The Bear, Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro, Cimarosa's L'infedeltà fedele, and Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.