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Repertory Archive
Jose Varona
Credits
Biography
Born in Argentina in 1930, Jose Varona was an internationally renowned designer for opera and ballet. Varona made his professional debut at age 22 in 1953 with a flamenco spectacle for Carmen Amaya in Buenos Aires. Since then, he designed countless operas and ballets on four continents.
Varona made his American debut in 1967 with New York City Opera, designing Julius Caesar. Varona designed for New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Berlin Opera Ballet, New York City Opera, Paris Opera, Washington Opera Society, Dallas Civic Opera, Netherlands Opera, Australian Opera Company, and American Opera Center. Varona additionally designed costumes for Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, and Placido Domingo. He collaborated with Joseph Papp, Alan Jay Lerner, George Balanchine, Margot Fonteyn, and Rudolf Nureyev.
In 2003, Varona was awarded the TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for his monumental design contributions around the world.
Varona died on October 8, 2012.