IN THE PRESS:
VOGUE— Feature on Complications in Sue
THE NEW YORK TIMES— Feature on Complications in Sue
THE NEW YORKER— Feature on Living Room: Orlean, VA
THE NEW YORK TIMES— Feature on Only An Octave Apart
VOGUE— Feature on Only An Octave Apart
THE NEW YORK TIMES— Feature on The Black Clown
THE NEW YORKER— Essay on The Black Clown
THE NEW YORK TIMES— Feature & interview on El Cimarrón
THE BOSTON GLOBE— Essay on The Black Clown
VOGUE— Profile
Director and producer Zack Winokur is recognized as “the vanguard of his generation's artistic leaders” (NYTimes). Upcoming projects include curating the 2028 Whitney Biennial alongside Meg Onli, and directing Gershwin’s Let ‘Em Eat Cake at Opera Philadelphia and New York City Center Encores! in spring 2027. Recent highlights include directing The Seasons, a Vivaldi pastiche written by Sarah Ruhl and choreographed by Pam Tanowitz; Complications in Sue, Michael R. Jackson’s first opera featuring ten different composers; and The Black Clown, an adaptation of the Langston Hughes poem at Opera Philadelphia; Both Ends starring Justin Vivian Bond at The Cherry Lane Theater celebrating a new partnership between A24 and Dior; The Wizard of Oz at Sphere in Las Vegas; Yo-Yo Ma: Words and Music throughout the USA; an installation created with artist Hugh Hayden and Davóne Tines at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Triennial; Only an Octave Apart at St. Ann’s Warehouse, The NYPhilharmonic, Wilton’s Music Hall in London, and The Gate Theater in Dublin; Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde at the Santa Fe Opera; Messiaen’s Harawi with Julia Bullock, Conor Hanick, Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and on tour throughout Europe and the U.S.
Winokur is Artistic Director and Co-Founder of AMOC* (American Modern Opera Company), a “blindingly impressive” (NY Times) collective of singers, dancers, and instrumentalists credited by the LA Times with “revitalizing what American music theater can mean with several of our most revolutionary young talents”. In 2025, AMOC* presented an unprecedented festival taking over the entire campus of Lincoln Center for 5 weeks with 12 new productions. He was the first Producing Artistic Director of Little Island, leading the programming and producing of over 20 world premieres and three completely sold-out summer seasons from 2024 - 2026; he served as Artistic Director of NYPopsUp, a sprawling state initiative to reopen the performing arts post-COVID across NY State with over 300 performances from February to July 2020; and co-taught, with Davóne Tines, a transdisciplinary storytelling class at Harvard.
Winokur was born in Boston, Massachusetts and is a graduate of The Juilliard School.