John Conklin, Glimmerglass Associate Artistic Director Emeritus, Dies at 88

COOPERSTOWN—Designer/dramaturg John Conklin passed away on June 24, 2025 in Cooperstown. Conklin had come out of retirement to design four productions for the 50th anniversary season of The Glimmerglass Festival, a company with which he had been associated since 1991.

“John is such an important part of our artistic legacy at Glimmerglass,” said Artistic and General Director Rob Ainsley. “Not only did he create some of the company’s most memorable productions, he created a way of working, one that lives on both in our production process and in the artists and staff whom he mentored. I knew John could help us envision a 50th anniversary season like no other, and I was eager to join the long list of theater professionals whose thinking has been elevated through collaborating with John.”

Conklin made his Glimmerglass debut shortly after Glimmerglass moved from a high-school auditorium to a purpose-built opera house, with productions of “Fidelio” (directed by Jonathan Miller) and “Il re pastore” (directed by Mark Lamos). According to a press release, in the years that followed, John worked closely with General Director Paul Kellogg to meet the challenge—and opportunity—of the new theater and the international attention it garnered.

When Kellogg was tapped to lead the New York City Opera, he named Conklin director of productions at both companies, formalizing Conklin’s role as a key advisor. All told, Conklin designed scenery and/or costumes for more than 40 Glimmerglass productions. He also took great delight in designing the company float for the annual Springfield Fourth of July Parade, as well as devising a series of sprawling seminars and smaller-scale entertainments for a variety of venues. As his role evolved, so did his title, to assistant artistic director (2000), then associate artistic director (2003).

Conklin’s work was seen on stages around the world. He made his professional debut in 1958 at Williamstown Theatre Festival, where he designed more than 30 shows. A 1966 production of “Dialogues of the Carmelites” for the New York City Opera was his first opportunity to work in an art form that had captivated him since childhood. He designed two complete “Ring Cycles” (for the San Francisco Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago) and a number of productions at The Metropolitan Opera, including the world premiere of “The Ghosts of Versailles.”

In the United States, his opera credits include shows at the San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Kennedy Center, New York City Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera, where he served as artistic advisor from 2009 until his death. In Europe, his designs were seen at the English National Opera (London), the Royal Opera (Stockholm), the Bastille Opera (Paris), and the opera companies of Munich, Amsterdam, and Bologna. Regional theater credits include American Repertory Theatre, the Goodman Theatre, the Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Arena Stage, the Guthrie Theatre, Center Stage (Baltimore), and Actors Theatre of Louisville.

His work on Broadway included several Circle in the Square productions, and he was nominated for a Tony Award in 1974 for set design for “The Au Pair Man.” He was the recipient of the 2008 Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Lifetime Achievement in Theatrical Design from the Theatre Development Fund and the 2011 NEA Opera Honors.

Conklin taught design and dramaturgy at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts for more than four decades. In addition, he served as a mentor to countless young professionals at Glimmerglass and elsewhere.

“John had a way of getting everybody to be as deeply invested in the process as he was,” said Glimmerglass Director of Production Abby Rodd, who began her career as a Glimmerglass intern in 1992. “He had such a huge following among the interns, and they had so much loyalty toward him, that we could make anything happen onstage.” 

“John’s process is equal parts rigor and playfulness,” said Glimmerglass Dramaturg Kelley Rourke, who began working with John in 1994. “He never stopped asking ‘What if?’ By the time any of his designs hit the stage, they were backed by months, if not years, of study and conversation—not to mention a lifetime of reading, listening, and thinking. And yet John always walked into tech with fresh eyes. He often talked about the moment when a production starts to tell you what it needs.

“It takes real presence of mind—and humility—to be able to enter that conversation, to set aside your careful plans and assumptions, and to listen to what the unfolding production is telling you. John modeled that for us, right to the end,” Rourke said.

When Conklin retired from his formal role at Glimmerglass in 2008, a group of friends and collaborators established the John Conklin Production Internship Fund to honor and continue his legacy. James Rotondo, the 2017 John Conklin Scenic Intern, subsequently returned to Glimmerglass to design four youth operas and two mainstage shows, including last year’s “Pagliacci.” This summer, he joined Conklin as associate scenic designer for all four shows of the 2025 festival: “Tosca,” “Sunday in the Park with George,” “The House on Mango Street” and “The Rake’s Progress.”

“It felt like the perfect idea to pair Jimmy with John for this immense task,” said Rodd. “Jimmy, like John, is so loved and well-respected by all the backstage artists as someone who totally understands the value of learning through experimentation. We knew Jimmy would be an ideal collaborator with John and the rest of the team.”

When Conklin was selected for the NEA Opera Honors in 2011, he spoke at length about his life’s work.

“I started out, as so many people in opera do, based on the Saturday afternoon Met broadcasts. I got “Opera News,” with pictures of the productions, and I would make little sets based on those, little models taken from those photographs. So it was always a kind of combination of theater, which I loved, music, which I loved, and architecture… Unlike architecture or painting, it all gets thrown away at the end, which I think is so wonderful. People say, oh, isn’t it terrible? Don’t you feel terrible when the scenery or the costumes are taken away? I say no, no! It does not exist without the performance…the fact that it can exist so strongly and then it only exists in memory is to me kind of fascinating, and puts it all in the right perspective.”

From The Glimmerglass Festival.