BIOGRAPHY

Michael Gianfrancesco is a Canadian set and costume designer known for his work in theatre, musical theatre, opera and dance. His multifaceted designs include period, contemporary, conceptual and site-specific work that has been seen across Canada, in the United States, England and Italy.

Recent projects include the set & costume design for Something Rotten at the Stratford Festival, the set design for The Inheritance at the Canadian Stage Company and the costume design for Hamlet choreographed by Guillaume Côté and directed by Robert Lepage which is currently touring through Europe and North America.

 He has designed for 20 seasons at the Stratford Festival, North America’s largest repertory theatre company, where he frequently collaborates with director/choreographer Donna Feore. In 2018 their production of The Rocky Horror Show became the festival’s longest running show in the theatre’s 70-year history, setting box office records. Michael has designed for 10 seasons at the Shaw Festival, most notably with past artistic director Jackie Maxwell on the world premiere of The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt and with visionary director Peter Hinton on Cabaret. His set design for Cabaret was featured in an international exhibit showcasing the excellence of Canadian Theatre design at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial for Performance Design and Space.

 Michael’s work in opera includes the set for Louis Riel and the set for the world premiere of Hadrian by Rufus Wainwright and Daniel McIvor, at the Canadian Opera Company. In 2018 he designed the costumes for Ricciardo e Zoraide at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, Italy starring Juan Diego Flórez and Pretty Yende. Recent ballet productions include sets and costumes for Emma Bovary choreographed by Helen Pickett for the National Ballet of Canada, sets for La Dame Aux Camélias choreographed by Peter Quanz at Les Grands Ballets Canadiens and the costume designs for the world premiere of the ballet Frame By Frame created by Robert Lepage and Guillaume Côté for the National Ballet of Canada and Ex Machina.

 For the 70th season of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in Montreal, Michael designed the set for Embrasse, the latest work by internationally celebrated playwright Michel Marc Bouchard, directed by Eda Holmes. The production, co-produced with the Centaur Theatre Company, marked the first time Montreal’s two largest French and English theatre companies have collaborated.

 He has also designed productions for the Signature Theatre NYC, National Arts Centre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Calgary, The Grand Theatre, Mirvish Productions, Musical Stage Company, Obsidian Theatre, Ross Petty Productions, Tarragon Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, Segal Centre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Canadian Rep Theatre, Studio 180, Against the Grain, Young People’s Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Theatre Panik, and Opera Ontario. Michael worked extensively with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, designing new operas that premiered in Toronto, The Linbury Theatre at the Royal Opera House in London and Opera Philadelphia.

 Michael is a recipient of a Dora Mavor Moore Award, two Montreal English Theatre Awards, The Brian Jackson Award from the Stratford Festival and The Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design from the Ontario Arts Foundation.