"Mo Zhou represents the next generation of opera artists combining impeccable schooling with already extensive professional experience, knowledge, and passion for the art of opera."
— Paula Wang in NY Times Chinese Edition
RINALDO - Minnesota Opera 2022
Picked by StarTribune as Minnesota's Top 10 Classical Performances Highlights of 2022:
“Minnesota Opera’s Rinaldo: Nov. 19-Dec. 3: Director Mo Zhou transplanted Handel's tale of the crusades to 1980s Wall Street in a production wonderfully staged, sung and memorably costumed, christening the company's intimate North Loop space.”
— Read the complete list here.
“Full of imaginative costuming and staging ideas, it's also finely sung and acted, and that comes through clearly in Minnesota Opera's new North Loop venue, the Luminary Arts Center…In Minnesota Opera's version — the brainchild of director Mo Zhou — old money does battle with new, the silly-suited aristocracy trying to either swallow or merge with a successful startup where the leaders dress in pointy-shouldered, flame-emblazoned leather jackets, bodices and codpieces…It proved a fine setting for this "Rinaldo." Not only do those heart-tugging arias work particularly well at close range, but it's possible to admire the details on Tyler M. Holland's wild, wonderful costumes and also admire how much the singers are inhabiting characters who could be caricatures in less subtle hands.”
Read the complete review here.
— Rob Hubbard in Star Tribune
GIANNI SCHICCHI & BUOSO’S GHOST - Florida Grand Opera 2023
“both operas crisply conducted by Ching, made a thoroughly engaging evening, thanks in large part to Mo Zhou’s lively staging and an enthusiastic ensemble cast.”
—Robert Croan in Opera News
“With adroit staging, terrific singing from top to bottom by a large cast and an eye-filling production, this pairing is both potent theater and delightful entertainment…Mo Zhou’s deft staging brought out the twin bill’s fun. The opening scene, as the Buoso relatives scavenge the house and turn it upside down to find the will between fake tears, drew much laughter from the audience.”
— South Florida Classical Review
DON GIOVANNI - Florida Grand Opera 2019
“Zhou’s production successfully shone a spotlight on the inner lives of the women whose lives are uprooted by Giovanni’s violence, greed, and rage…We should feel uncomfortable watching these moments on stage, period.”
— Carly Gordon in Schmopera
“Zhou had soprano Elizabeth de Trejo stand center stage and address the audience directly…[s]peaking out like so many contemporary women at the trials of powerful men, her testimony was chilling.”
— Celeste Landeros in Opera News
“Stage director Mo Zhou framed the opera with a shrewd eye, especially abandoning cliché for tenderness in staging the couples scenes – encouraging a soft hand to the cheek, a playful gesture, a cheeky smile. She mined the relationship between Giovanni and Leporello, bringing out the subtleties in their personalities to deepen and widen their bond.”
— Steve Gladstone in MiamiArtZine
“ Mo Zhou, making her FGO debut, has taken the #MeToo movement into account and come up with a Giovanni closer in spirit to the text: A man entirely made of id, driven by a thirst for sexual conquest, and glorying in his ability to carry it off so successfully.”
— Greg Stepanich in Palm Beach Arts Paper
MEROLA GRAND FINALE - Merola Opera Program 2015
“In the direction of apprentice stage director Mo Zhou, of Nanjing, the evening unfolded with simplicity, speed and continuity perhaps none of the 30 previous grand finales I've ever seen could match: a thoroughly professional job.”
— Janos Gereben in The San Francisco Examiner
"Zhou, staging all of the scenes on a single unit set, supplied imaginative touches."
— Georgia Rowe in San Jose Mercury News
"Merola Apprentice Stage Director Mo Zhou should also be praised for keeping the action flowing and well balanced."
— Paul Duclos in Bay Crossings