‘He was shaping a generation of young artists’: Winnipeg director Rob Herriot has died at 60

Prolific Winnipeg director and performer Rob Herriot has died.

Herriot was well known for his work within opera and musical theatre in Winnipeg and across North America. He died Friday at 60 years old. Loved ones described his death as sudden, and the cause had not yet been determined Sunday.

“He was such an enormous part of the opera community locally here in Winnipeg… as a director, he was shaping a generation of young artists in the community,” Manitoba Opera executive director Michael Blais said Sunday. “I think that’s what the real loss is to the opera community, in that way.”

Herriot’s work in Manitoba included directing productions of Cosí fan Tutte, Madama Butterfly, La Bohème, Carmen, and, most recently, The Marriage of Figaro for Manitoba Opera, Cinderella, The Wizard of Oz and Beauty and the Beast for Rainbow Stage, and Three Decembers, The Walk from the Garden and The House Without a Christmas Tree for the Little Opera Company.