San Diego Opera debut. Spanish stage director Emilio Sagi is the former General Director of the Zarzuela Theatre in Madrid and former Artistic Director of the Teatro Real in Madrid. Since 2008 he has been the Artistic Director of the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao. Recent engagements include La finta giardiniera at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Luisa Miller at Florida Grand Opera, Luisa Fernanda at the Los Angeles Opera and Theater an der Wien, The Italian Girl in Algiers in Oviedo, Bilbao, and Lausanne, The Marriage of Figaro for Lithuanian National Opera and Teatro Real Madrid, Rigoletto for Palicio de la Opera de la Coruna, Il viaggio a Reims for Teatro Argentino de la Plata and Teatro Real Madrid, Lucia di Lammermoor in Bilbao and Murcia, Spain, Iphigenie en Tauride for Washington National Opera, The Daughter of the Regiment at Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Teatro Municipal de Santiago de Chile, Duisberg and Tel Aviv, Carmen in Liège and at Los Angeles Opera, L’incoronazione di Poppea in Bilbao and Oviedo and The Force of Destiny at the New National Theatre in Tokyo. Since 2001 his acclaimed Il viaggio a Reims is presented at the Rossini Festival in Pesaro every year. In 2006 he was awarded “Premio Lírico Teatro Campoamor” for his production of The Barber of Seville at the Teatro Real Madrid.