Lee Blakeley

Richard Lee Blakeley (16 August 1971 – 5 August 2017) was a British opera and theatre director.

Born in Mirfield, West Yorkshire to Carol and Richard Blakeley, Blakeley was educated at The Mirfield Free Grammar School. He subsequently studied theatre at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, beginning at age 18. He also studied at the University of Glasgow. He returned to the Royal Scottish Academy to study theatre directing. There, he was accidentally assigned as director of a student production of Gustav Holst's The Wandering Scholar. The resulting success initiated his career interest in opera direction.

In 2001, Blakeley directed the first dramatic staging of Handel's cantata Clori, Tirst e Fileno, at the gay nightclub Heaven in London.

At the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Blakeley directed the French premiere of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music (2010), and subsequent productions of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd (2011), and of Sunday in the Park with George (2013), and Into the Woods (2014), The King and I (2014). His directorial work in theatre included Pat Kirkwood Is Angry. The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein (2013) and Rigoletto (2015) for Santa Fe Opera, Orfeo ed Euridice for Minnesota Opera, and Les Contes D'Hoffmann for Canadian Opera Company. For Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, he directed the North American premiere staging of Handel's Riccardo Primo (performed in English as Richard the Lionheart, 2015) and the company's first staging of Verdi's Macbeth (2016).

In private life, Blakeley was married to Jonathan Foster. The couple resided in London.