(Photo credit: Peter Trievnor/TIMES)

Stage director Ian Judge passed away on Sept. 15, 2025, aged 79.

Judge was born July 21, 1946, in Southport, Lancashire. He left grammar school at age 14 to work in a rates office, take part in amateur theatre and design window displays for a local department store. In 1969, he won a place at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he trained as an actor.

His breakthrough happened after a chance encounter in the 1980s at a dinner party with the David Pountney, who was then running English National Opera. Pountney, having never seen Judge’s work, but liking the way he talked about it, invited him to direct Gounod’s “Faust” for the company in 1985.

Throughout his career Judge worked with opera stars such as Plácido Domingo and Lesley Garrett. He would go on to direct “Simon Boccanegra,” “Tosca,” “Boris Godunov,” “Macbeth,” “The Mikado,” and many more. He was a regular director in London, New York, Los Angeles, St Petersburg, Amsterdam, and Madrid. His productions at Opera North and Scottish Opera received much acclaim. Judge continued to work mostly abroad until 2009.

Judge suffered from ill health in recent years, and was cared for by a longstanding and loyal friend.