The Canadian set designer Michael Levine studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London. He works internationally in theatre, opera and film. Among his most important set design credits for opera are Carmen, Parsifal, Madama Butterfly, Eugene Onegin and Mefistofele for the Metropolitan Opera, The Cunning Little Vixen, Semele and – most recently, in February 2025 – Die Liebe der Danae at the Bavarian State Opera, Rusalka, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Die Zauberflöte, Capriccio and Elektra at the Paris Opéra, Billy Budd and Jenůfa at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Iphigénie en Tauride, The Queen of Spades, Madama Butterfly, Wozzeck and Sweeney Todd at the Zurich Opera House, Madama Butterfly at the Bregenz Festival, Turandot and Carmen at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, Die Zauberflöte at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía in Valencia and at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Jenůfa at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Peter Grimes and Billy Budd at the Teatro Real in Madrid, The Rape of Lucretia and L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Glyndebourne Festival, Madama Butterfly, Between Worlds, Die Zauberflöte and A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the English National Opera, Benjamin, dernière nuit at the Opéra de Lyon and Don Giovanni at La Scala, Milan.
His other work includes Atonement for the Joffrey Ballet, Mnemonic at the National Theatre in London, Chicago at the Komische Oper Berlin, The Seagull for the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm, A Disappearing Number, The Elephant Vanishes and The Encounter for the theatre company Complicité and The Beautiful Game in London’s West End.
In 2019 Michael Levin received the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Scenic and Costume Design for Eugene Onegin, in 2020 he received an Olivier Award for Billy Budd in the category ‘Best New Opera Production’ and in 2022 he won the International Opera Award for ‘Best Set Designer of the Year’ for Madama Butterfly.
