(Photo credit: Raber Umphenour)

John Conklin, a notable theater and opera designer, passed on June 24, 2025. He was 88.

Born on June 22, 1937, in Hartford, Connecticut, Conklin studied at Kingswood-Oxford School and Yale University. Throughout his career he designed for such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English National Opera, Royal Opera Stockholm, Opéra National de Paris, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glimmerglass, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, and Seattle Opera, among many others.

At the time of his death, Conklin was an Artistic Advisor at Boston Lyric Opera, a position he had held since 2009.

“John has been part of my life for three decades,” noted Esther Nelson, Former General and Artistic Director of Boston Lyric Opera, in a statement. “He was uncompromising in his commitment towards artistic integrity. He pushed all of his colleagues to constantly question their artistic decisions. He was inspired to find solutions to the most challenging problems and never lost his childlike curiosity or his thirst for knowledge. His legacy will continue with the next generations of designers and stage directors whom he inspired to always stretch their horizons.”

“John was one of the first people I met when I arrived at BLO in 2013, and he helped shape the foundation of my tenure with the Company,” added Bradley Vernatter, Stanford Calderwood General Director and CEO of Boston Lyric Opera. “Only recently did we realize that our artistic paths had actually crossed many years earlier—while going through our work together, we discovered that he designed the first professional opera I worked on when I was a college intern at New York City Opera. He helped shape my career from the very beginning, and his presence will have a lasting impact.

Before his time with Boston Lyric Opera, Conklin was Associate Artistic Director for the Glimmerglass Opera, which he held for 18 years until 2008.  He was also a faculty member of the Tisch School of the Arts in New York City.