Rodula is an Athens-born, Paris-trained, London-based opera director. Her productions are seen at major opera houses and festivals across Europe, North America, and Australasia, reflecting a career defined by artistic versatility and global reach.
In the 2025–2026 season, her plans include new productions of Roméo et Juliette for State Opera South Australia, Siegfried for Edmonton Opera in Canada, Tosca for Opera Hedeland in Denmark, and Death in Venice (to be announced), alongside revivals of her productions of Nabucco for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, Un ballo in maschera for Opera Holland Park, and Madama Butterfly for the Estonian National Opera.
In the 2024–2025 season, she directed new productions of La forza del destino for Greek National Opera, La bohème for Malmö Opera, and The Turn of the Screw for the Spoleto Festival USA, as well as revivals of her La traviata for Norwegian National Opera in Oslo and Opera Holland Park in London, and Madama Butterfly for Estonian National Opera.
Highlights of the 2023–2024 season included new productions of La traviata for Norwegian National Opera, Rusalka for Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, La bohème for Minnesota Opera, Nabucco for the Savonlinna Opera Festival, and La fanciulla del West for Opera Hedeland. She also oversaw revivals of her productions of La cenerentola at the Olympia Theatre in Athens and Madama Butterfly for Rahvusooper Estonia and the Circuito Lombardo theatres of Como, Pavia, Cremona, Bergamo, and Lucca.
In the 2022–2023 season, Rodula directed Ariadne auf Naxos for Opera North (Leeds and touring Nottingham, Newcastle, and Manchester), Vanessa for the Spoleto Festival USA, Andrea Chénier for Theater St. Gallen, and Madama Butterfly for Fondazione del Teatro Grande di Brescia.
Her wider body of work includes productions for GöteborgsOperan (Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ariadne auf Naxos); Tiroler Festspiele Erl (Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus); Opera Hedeland Denmark (Aida, Lucia di Lammermoor); Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (Carmen); Bergen National Opera (La clemenza di Tito); Wexford Festival Opera (Massenet’s Don Quichotte, Barber’s Vanessa, Leoni’s L’oracolo, Giordano’s Mala vita); Opera Holland Park (Un ballo in maschera, La traviata, The Queen of Spades); Oldenburgisches Staatstheater (Un ballo in maschera); Victorian Opera Melbourne (Guillaume Tell); Teatro Nacional São Carlos Lisbon (Pagliacci); Teatro Verdi Trieste (La cenerentola); Xi’an Concert Hall China (Tosca); Greek National Opera (Così fan tutte, La cenerentola); the Guildhall School (Le portrait de Manon, Fête galante, I due timidi, Ariane and Alexandre bis, San Giovanni Battista, The Cooper); British Youth Opera (Riders to the Sea, Savitri, The Bartered Bride); Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and Scottish Opera (Betrothal in a Monastery); London’s King’s Head Theatre (Carmen); the Royal Opera House Linbury Studio (Haydn's L’isola disabitata); Hobart Baroque Tasmania (also L’isola disabitata) etc.
Rodula is the recipient of the 2022 ARGO Award for Arts and Culture and was nominated Director of the Year at the 2019 International Opera Awards. Her production of La forza del destino for Greek national Opera was nominated Best Production at the 2025 International Opera Awards. Her productions for Opera Hedeland—La fanciulla del West and Lucia di Lammermoor—were nominated for Best Opera Production at the CPH Awards (2025, 2019). Her Wexford Festival productions of Massenet’s Don Quichotte and Barber’s Vanessa received Irish Times Theatre Award nominations for Best Opera (2020, 2017). She was also nominated for two Helpmann Awards (Australia, 2013) for her production of L’isola disabitata at the Hobart Baroque Festival.
She has directed revivals of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden productions in London, Sydney, Gothenburg, and Valencia.
A former member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, Rodula originally trained as a violinist at the Mousikoi Orizontes Conservatory in Athens, studied Musicology at the Sorbonne, Opera Staging at Paris 8 – Saint-Denis University, and movement at the Laboratoire d’Étude du Mouvement at the École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq.
Gaitanou's work is defined by psychologically astute character direction, clean conceptual thinking and a deep, instinctive engagement with the music. She is passionate about the artform and is committed to making operatic stories resonate with contemporay audiences. Internationally recognised for her clarity of storytelling and nuanced performer work, she brings a distinctive balance of psychological depth and musical intelligence to every production.