Amanda Smith is a Toronto-based opera stage director, with a penchant for all things new. Amanda recently directed a new production of Miss Donnithorne's Maggot by Peter Maxwell-Davies, presented by Opera Lyra Ottawa for the 2014 Nuit Blanche Ottawa + Gatineau. Amanda has assisted such directors as Joel Ivany, Michael Cavanagh, Michael Albano, Joshua Major, Graham Cozzubbo and Tim Albery, for whom she assisted on the Aldeburgh Music Festival production of Grimes on the Beach (Peter Grimes). Much of Amanda's work is sight specific, including the Brazilian opera Pedro Malazarte, which was performed at Lula Lounge. Amanda also created the first staged performance of the electronic chamber music-theatre piece titled Ghost of Gunby Hall by Gabriel Prokofiev. Amanda's interest in the intersection of classical music with other art forms has led her to interesting collaborations with visual artists, dancers, filmmakers, writers and electronic music producers. Her goal is to explore the potential of classical music and show new audiences how classical music and opera are equivalent to the many, more readily accepted art forms that younger generations patron today.