Danish director Kasper Holten was Director of Opera for The Royal Opera 2011–17. He made his directorial debut at the Royal Opera House with Eugene Onegin in 2013 and went on to direct Don Giovanni, L’Ormindo, Król Roger and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for The Royal Opera. During his time with The Royal Opera he introduced many new productions and promoted new operatic commissions. 

Holten was born in Copenhagen in 1973. He trained by assisting directors including Harry Kupfer, John Cox and David Pountney. He was appointed artistic director of Royal Danish Opera in 2000 at the age of 27, a post he held for 11 years. In 2005 he supervised the company’s relocation to a new theatre. Productions have included Idomeneo (Vienna State Opera), Drot og Marsk, Der Freischütz, Der Ring des Nibelungen, Die Frau ohne Schatten, Tannhäuser and Le Grand Macabre (Copenhagen), The Turn of the Screw (La Scala, Milan), Das Liebesverbot (Teatro Real, Madrid), Lohengrin (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Duke Bluebeard's Castle (Hungarian State Opera), West Side Story (Malmö Opera), Béatrice et Bénédict and Le nozze di Figaro (Theater an der Wien), Der fliegende Holländer and Die tote Stadt (Finnish National Opera) and Carmen (Bregenz Festival). In 2010 he adapted Don Giovanni for cinema in his film Juan, released worldwide. 

Holten has also directed theatre, including A Clockwork Orange for the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm and Amadeus for the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen. He has received a knighthood (2003) and a medal Ingenio et Arti (2011) from Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and in 2017 received the Commander of Romania's Order of Faithful Service. He is currently Chief Executive of the Royal Danish Theatre.