LES TROYENS (Berlioz). Boston Youth Symphony OrchestraJoshua Major, who has done similar fine work in several recent BYSO operas, skillfully conceived the blocking and direction. Using only a throne-like chair and a few benches, he created distinct spaces that with the help of his singers became an audience hall, a forest, a funeral pyre and so on. His imagination gave ours all that was needed to fill in the rest. Four sails hung hauntingly above the stage, reminding all that the Trojans were on a journey that had yet to end. Major’s gift for imparting clarity helped us follow Berlioz’s frequent narrative footnotes. He deftly used the chorus, especially in Act 3, to underscore the seething emotions. He drew from the principals, performances neither they nor the audience will soon forget. He helped his singers get inside their characters and live their music and not just sing it. Musical Intelligencer
THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN (Janacek) Cape Town Opera. The director, Joshua Major and designer Michael Mitchell, have created a magical forest and their costuming is truly innovative. What impresses about Major's directing, is the way he has given attention to minor detail such as the life-like head movements of the hens and the characterization of the dog, Lapak. Die Burger
LUCIA DI LAMERMOOR (Donizetti) Academy of Vocal Arts Staged in the Academy of Vocal Arts' tiny theater, the work by Gaetano Donizetti became fiercely intimate. Condensing the opera's panoramas into this stage was a kind of triumph for director Joshua Major. The drama focused on face-to-face confrontations and consequences... It was theatrical, musical and riveting.
LA TRAVIATA (Verdi) Jacksonville Symphony Joshua Major, has been directing operas since his early 20s and is known for eliciting natural performances. This was clearly evident in La Traviata. Major's direction allowed the vocalists to develop an emotionally intricate portrayal of Verdi's famous opera. An interpretation that lent itself to an investigation of the true human elements was not lost on the audience.
LA NOZZE DI FIGARO (Mozart) Tulsa Opera The Marriage of Figaro' s Director Joshua Major, making his company debut with this production, has done a superb job of staging the opera....Major's way of presenting the action is such that one hardly needs to read the synopsis or the surtitles to know what is going on. The pace is just fast enough to prevent the action from dragging, and Major has his actors in constant, just always believable, motion on the stage, and the comedy comes genuinely out of the characters and the situations.
LA TRAVIATA (Verdi) Opera Theater of St.Louis That immediacy was palpable during Friday Night's performance of La Traviata, in an effectively spare production by the director Joshua Major. Here was one of the world's most familiar operas. Yet instead of just assessing another Violetta's dexterity with coloratura, the audience seemed involved in a story happening before them... The New York Times
L'ELISIR D'AMORE (Donizetti) Cleveland Opera Joshua Major has staged the work with a fine eye for humor and tenderness... what follows does high honor to Donizetti's comic opera both in theatrical and musical terms. The Plain Dealer
LA NOZZE DI FIGARO (Mozart) Music Academy of the West That the Music Academy's production was a resounding success owed not only to the talents and genuine enthusiasm of it young cast, but also to the masterful stage direction by Joshua Major. Classical Voice