Katie Mitchell has announced she is retiring from directing opera due to misogyny ahead of her upcoming production of Janáček’s “The Makropulos Case” at the Royal Opera.

In an interview with the Times, the British director said, “I’m definitely bringing my work in opera to a close because of the misogyny.

“The dissonance between doing feminist deconstructions and, sometimes, the experience of sexism in the workplace is something I’ve no longer an appetite for.”

She added that what would make her return is a “system revolution…Very simply, I would like to be certain that I’m safe at work.”

Mitchell noted that she did not experience sexual harassment noting, “I want to make it absolutely clear that I am not talking about sexual or physical harassment; I am talking about the experience of misogyny and sexism. Across the 30 or so operas I have directed, I have never had a working process free of sexism. The sexism can sometimes be mild (like being asked daily by a répétiteur, “Are you a happy girl now?”) or it can be intense, like being screamed at for an artistic choice that someone does not like. I know this would not be the case if I were male. On one occasion I even had furniture thrown at me.”