Kaley Karis Smith has worked as a director and assistant director with opera companies across the country, including Houston Grand Opera, Michigan Opera Theater, Virginia Opera, The Chautauqua Opera Company, Chicago Summer Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera North, and Opera on the James. Ms. Smith was also awarded the 2019 JoElyn Wakefield-Wright Fellowship to serve as the assistant director for Orpheus and Euridice at West Edge Opera in Berkeley, California. Later this spring, she will be the associate director for New Camerata Opera’s production of Libby Larson’s Barnum’s Bird, and will join the Young Artists of Glimmerglass Opera to assist director Louisa Proske on a new production of Rinaldo.

Kaley’s other directing credits include: Goldie B. Locks and the Three Singing Bears and The Elixir of Love for the Educational Touring Program at Virginia Opera, The Turn of the Screw and The Crucible at Chicago Summer Opera, As One (open rehearsals series) at The Chautauqua Opera Company, The Bremen Town Musicians at The Chautauqua Opera Company and Opera on the James, Le Nozze di Figaro at Augusta University, and remounted productions of Petunia and Jack and the Beanstalk with FBN Productions, Inc. In the spring of 2017, she was the Assistant Director and Choreographer for the world premiere of Stranger from Paradise, based on the life and poetry of William Blake with Opera Omaha. She has also worked as a stage manager with Houston Grand Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Delaware, Opera Omaha, Central City Opera, Opera on the James, Opera Columbus, the University of South Carolina, and Indiana University.