Mo Zhou is a Chinese expatriate stage director whose boundary-pushing work has made her a distinctive voice in opera and theater. Her productions have appeared at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Elbphilharmonie, and the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, China.

In the 2025–26 season, she returns to Houston Grand Opera to direct the Butler Studio Showcase and revive her acclaimed children’s opera The Big Swim. She leads a new co-production of Madama Butterfly with Calgary Opera, Arizona Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids, where she also directs Byron Au Yong’s Stuck Elevator and serves as Guest Artistic Director. Additionally, she makes her debut with Opera Colorado directing Madama Butterfly.

In 2024–25, Ms. Zhou directed the Butler Studio Showcase at Houston Grand Opera, revived her acclaimed Madama Butterfly with Florentine Opera and Kentucky Opera, staged Così fan tutte at The Juilliard School, La bohème at Arizona Opera, and returned to Virginia Opera for a new production of Così fan tutte. She also made her Canadian directing debut with Madama Butterfly at Vancouver Opera.

Her 2023–24 season featured the world premiere of The Big Swim at Houston Grand Opera and Asia Society Texas Center, a reimagined Madama Butterfly set in post-WWII Allied-occupied Japan at Virginia Opera, Tosca with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra, and La Calisto at Glimmerglass Festival. Previous highlights include a sold-out Rinaldoat Minnesota Opera and the critically acclaimed Iphigénie en Tauride with Boston Baroque, praised by Forbes for its digital innovation. She is a recipient of the OPERA America Grants for Women Stage Directors and Conductors as well as the OPERA America Robert Tobin Director-Designer Prize.

An advocate for young artists, Ms. Zhou has taught at the University of Michigan and the University of Missouri–Kansas City Conservatory and served as guest dramatic faculty at leading programs including the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Butler Studio at Houston Grand Opera, Aspen Music Festival and School, and Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara.

Ms. Zhou trained at The Juilliard School, Merola Opera Program, Wolf Trap Opera, and Glimmerglass Festival, and has worked on the directing staff at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Dallas Opera. She holds an MFA in Stage Directing from Columbia University, where she studied under Anne Bogart, and a BA in English and Theater from Bowdoin College.