at the Bielefeld Opera in Bielefeld, Germany. While in Switzerland, he perfected his German and also added several Entartete Kunst roles to his repertoire. During this time he began to receive engagements to sing in Berlin and he performed in the opening concert in the Berliner Festwochen (Berlin Festival) in César Franck's Beatitudes under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy. Designing and directing As well as designing the production, he directed Giovanni Paisiello's Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Gattières Festival in France, and as a free-lancer has designed four operas for the Scottish Opera, Glasgow where he also produced and directed Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and Puccini's La bohème. Later he was responsible for the successful design and direction of the premier of Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti in Vienna. He also directed Georges Bizet's Carmen, Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Berlin Opera Academy. Repertoire He has sung at the Royal Opera House where he made his debut in 1995 as Flint in Billy Budd, the Opéra National de Paris, the San Francisco Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the New York City Opera, at La Monnaie in Brussels, the English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, New Israeli Opera, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also been heard at the KlangBogen Festival in Vienna. Recent years have included the roles of Hagen (Götterdämmerung) for Seattle Opera and in London for English National Opera, Pizarro (Fidelio) and Kaspar (Der Freischütz) for the Deutsche Staatsoper, Philip II (Don Carlos) in Geneva and Palermo, Boris Godunov (title role) in London and Toronto, Claggart (Billy Budd) in Paris and London, Nick Shadow (The Rake's Progress) in London, Daland (Der fliegende Holländer), Kochubei (Mazeppa) for Welsh National Opera, Hunding (Die Walküre), Hagen (Götterdämmerung), and Scarpia (Tosca) for Washington National Opera, and the 4 villains (The Tales of Hoffmann) at the Royal Opera House. Saks has sung world premiere performances of several roles including George Moscone in Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk for the Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera which was recorded on Teldec with Donald Runnicles conducting, Hamilcar in Philippe Fénelon's Salammbô at the Opéra Bastille, and the Messenger in Alexander Goehr's Arianna at the Royal Opera House. Influences In an interview, Saks spoke about his early