Originally from Chicago, IL, Melanie Bacaling (she/her) is an active Stage Director and Artistic Collaborator in the opera industry. She is currently on the Stage Directing Staff at The Metropolitan Opera where she most recently Assistant Directed Camille A. Brown and Jim Robinson’s production of Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Carrie Cracknell's Carmen. She held the title of Associate Director for Robert O'Hara's production of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Seattle Opera as well as with Matthew Ozawa's new production of Madama Butterfly with Detroit Opera and Cincinnati Opera. Upcoming engagements include Associate Directing  Netia Jones' production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with Garsington Opera. She will also be the inaugural House Assistant Director for Santa Fe Opera's 2024 season. In 2025 she will make her debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago directing a stellar cast in Puccini’s La Boheme.

Ms. Bacaling holds production credits with LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Detroit Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington Concert Opera, Aspen Opera Center, Sun Valley Music Festival, The Boston Conservatory, and Longy School of Music. She has training in Intimacy Directing and she is passionate about creating actively inclusive artistic spaces, interrogating what it takes to decolonize the rehearsal room.

As a Producer, Ms. Bacaling worked with Boston Lyric Opera to create We Need to Listen, a series of conversations highlighting the racial inequities that exist in classical music and opera. Also with BLO, she curated and produced BLO’s podcast at its (s)core, which seeks to delve into the inner workings of the opera industry and highlight voices of BLO's BIPOC and LGBTQIA communities

Trained as a vocalist and pedagogue, Ms. Bacaling holds a BM in Voice and BS in Psychology from the University of Evansville, as well as an MM in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from the Boston Conservatory.