Graham, Colin (1931–2007)

English stage director. He directed the premieres of many operas, particularly the works of English composer Benjamin Britten.

He was director of productions for the English Opera Group 1961–75, and worked with the Sadler's Wells Theatre/English National Opera Ensemble from 1965, producing Gloriana in 1966, Prokofiev's War and Peace in 1972, and the English stage premiere of Janáček's The Excursions of Mr Brouček in 1978. He was appointed artistic director of the Opera St Louis in 1978, writing the libretti for two operas by Stephen Paulus. He directed the premiere of Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles at the New York Metropolitan Opera House in 1991, and Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, in 1992.

He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and made his debut at Aldeburgh in 1958, with the premiere of Britten's Noye's Fludde. He staged Britten's three church parables and Death in Venice in 1973, and wrote the text for his Golden Vanity in 1970.