Born in
Newton, Massachusetts, Merrill earned degrees from
Dartmouth College, the
New England Conservatory of Music, and
Boston University. After working with the
Hamburg State Opera, the
Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, the
Glyndebourne Festival, and the
Salzburg Festival, he joined the staff at the
Metropolitan Opera in 1956 where his first job was to create a revised staging of
Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1952 production of
Giacomo Puccini's
La bohème. His first major critical successes at the Met came during the 1960–1961 season when he directed the new staging of ''
L'elisir d'amore'' and staged a brand new production of Puccini's
Turandot that was designed by
Cecil Beaton. He went on to stage several Met premieres including,
Strauss's
Die Frau ohne Schatten (1966),
Berlioz's
Les Troyens (1973) and
Gershwin's
Porgy and Bess (1985). Many of Merrill's stagings remained a part of the company's repertory for decades, including his stagings of
Donizetti's ''''L'elisir d'amore'''' (1960),
Wagner's
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1962) and
Humperdinck's
Hänsel und Gretel (1967). Other operas he staged for the company included
Adriana Lecouvreur (1963),
Aida (1963),
Samson et Dalila (1964),
Luisa Miller (1968),
Il trovatore (1969) and
Parsifal (1970) among others. His 1969 staging of
Der Rosenkavalier was used through 2012.
Opera News said, "Merrill productions were designed to survive multiple revivals and cast changes; generally traditional and always clear, their simple but effective staging touches, such as Dulcamara's arrival via hot-air balloon in Elisir, kept Met audiences diverted and amused for a generation. During his years at the Met, Merrill also worked for several other opera companies, notably working as the Artistic Director of
Central City Opera in
Colorado for seven years. From 1974 to 1978 he worked as the resident producer and director of technical services for the
Opéra national du Rhin. He also directed operas for many companies both in the United States and abroad during his career, including the
Arena di Verona Festival, the
Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, the
Bregenz Festival, the
Hamburg State Opera, the
Houston Grand Opera, the
Lyric Opera of Chicago, the
Miami Opera, the
Opera Company of Philadelphia, the
Salzburg Festival, the
San Diego Opera, the
Teatro Colón, and the
Vienna State Opera among others. ==References==