Portrait Photograph of David Ronis

David Ronis

Assistant Professor, Karen K. Bishop Director of Opera

College of Letters & Science l Mead Witter School of Music

Hometown: Syosset, NY

David Ronis is the Karen K. Bishop Director of Opera at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since coming to UW-Madison in 2014, seven of his productions have garnered national attention, winning awards from The American Prize and the National Opera Association. Before devoting himself full-time to teaching, for many years he was a performer, singing and acting in opera, concerts, musical theater, and television commercials.

Talks:

So you don't like opera...

Opera has the reputation for being elitist and stuffy, badly acted, and boring. It’s true that bad opera can be just that. But good opera is extremely entertaining and often profoundly moving. I’ve devoted my life to cultivating that.