Maxine Braham

Biography

Following a successful international dance career with companies including Lloyd Newson’s DV8, Second Stride, Rosemary Butcher Dance Co, Adventures in Motion Pictures and Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance Co, Maxine now choreographs and directs in opera, spoken theatre and pure dance.

Her choreography features in many Award winning and Olivier nominated opera productions including the prestigious Zolotoy Soffit Award 2012 for Claudia Solti’s Midsummer’s Night’s Dream with Gergiev at The Mariinski, The South Bank Award 2009 for David Alden’s Peter Grimes at English National Opera and The International Opera Award 2014 for his Verdi Triology at Hamburg’s Stadtsoper and The Italian Music Critics Award 2005 for Stephen Medcalf’s Carmen at Teatro Lirico di Cagliari. At Wexford Festival Opera, Susannah, directed by John Fulljames won the Irish Times Theatre Award 2006. She choreographed Tim Albery’s Macbeth which won the Manchester Evening Standard Best Opera Award 2008 as well as jointly winning The TMA Best Opera Award 2008. The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Daniel Slater, won What’s On Stage’s Best Opera Production 2015. Recently both Billy Budd and Peter Grimes were Olivier shortlist nominations. The Metropolitan Opera’s production of Un Ballo in Maschera, directed by David Alden, was live relayed worldwide to cinemas from the Metropolitan Opera in NYC.

Maxine’s other choreographic projects include Shadows of Gobustan for the National ballet of Azerbaijan, performed in the Unesco World Heritage Site of Gobustan on the Caspian Sea, it was taken into the company’s repertoire and has just been restaged at the Unesco HQ in Paris and Strasbourg. She also staged the Opening Ceremony for the Formula One Grand Prix in Bahrain, which was live relayed on Sky TV and staged Conference of the Birds in Vilnius Airport with a chorus of orphans for Life Theatre Festival. She choreographed Compagnie Avant Garde at The Royal Albert Hall and Gaffiera, a tango theatre production in Rio de Janiero.

As a director Maxine has recently directed Madama Butterfly at Teatro Sao Carlos, Lisbon, Don Juan at The Citizens’ Theatre in Glasgow, An Eye for an Eye (world premier) at the Orkney Festival and The Bath International Festival, La Belle de La Bete for The National Theatre Studio and Bizet’s Le docteur Miracle for Wexford Festival Opera.

Maxine has a long association with David Alden with ten new productions including La gazza ladra (Frankfurt), Otello (ENO, Madrid, Stockholm), Luisa Miller (Lyon), Katya Kabanova (ENO, Warsaw, Lisbon), Billy Budd (ENO, Berlin), Un ballo in maschera (the Met, NYC).

Engagements this year include Benjamin la derniere Nuit (Lyon), Tannhäuser (Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), Jenufa (ENO), Manon Lescaut (Bilbao), Lucia di Lammermoor (Bonn).