About Brian Byungkoo Ahn,
Writer/Director
Artistic Director of SARC
Since Byungkoo Ahn's first directorial work ‘Cavalleria Rusticana’ was presented at the National Theatre of Korea as part of the Young Theatre Festival when he was 20, his opera, theatre and dance productions have been seen in the US, Korea, Italy, Germany and Czech Republic for over 25 years.
Born into a Korean theatre family as a third-generation artist, a Korean-American director, Mr. Ahn studied theatre directing and design in Korea and the United States. After his graduate study at UCLA on a full-scholarship as the first recipient of the MAMPIST Award by Samsung Foundation of Culture, he studied opera and classical singing in Italy and the Czech Republic.
After completing internships at Los Angeles Opera, Opera National de Paris, and Long Beach opera, he served as a stage director at California State University, Long Beach. In 2012, he moved to Korea and formed an experimental music theatre company called ‘Singing Actors Repertory Company’ where he has been directing and serving as the Artistic Director. Also, he currently teaches directing, acting, and voice at Hongik University in Seoul.
His last production seen in New York was Hamyul/Hamlet at La MaMa ETC in 2011, and it was very well received by The New York Times, NYTheatre.com, the Villager, etc. Also, his own experimental musical vignettes, which integrate German art songs, visual images, movement and a laptop computer orchestra, were presented in Korea, Germany, and Italy.