Elio Bucky is an opera stage director and projection designer. Their work celebrates plurality, truth, and innovation in the creative process.

Elio has recently made significant debuts in San Francisco, Atlanta, and Cincinnati. In the 2024-2025 season, they joined The Atlanta Opera as their Studio Stage Director, working as an assistant director on Tomer Zvulun’s productions of Rent, La bohème, The Magic Flute, Macbeth, and Siegfried. In February, Elio reunited with conductor John Morris Russell and artists from Wolf Trap Opera to direct Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra. In May, Elio directed a “stunning” revival of Verdi’s Rigoletto with Cincinnati Opera “…that riveted from beginning to end.” (Cincinnati Business Courier) In the summer, Elio joined the Merola Opera Program as their Apprentice Stage Director. There, they directed the Merola Grand Finale on the War Memorial Opera House stage “with suave panache.” (San Francisco Chronicle) Additionally, they served as the assistant director of Rossini’s Le comte Ory, directed by Garnett Bruce and conducted by Pierre Vallet, and co-directed the Schwabacher Summer Concert with Omer Ben Seadia. Their work as a projection designer has recently been seen in Ana María Martínez’s Noche Española recital at Rice University, Die Fledermaus at Binghamton University, and in the Schwabacher Summer Concert at the Merola Opera Program.

Elio studied voice & opera performance at Northwestern University and opera directing at the Butler Opera Center. They have held prestigious directing fellowships at Wolf Trap Opera and the Music Academy of the West, and trained as a singer at the Chautauqua Institution.