Elisabeth Manduell was born in London and moved to South Africa in 2006, where she discovered her passion for opera and theatre. She graduated in 2018 with a BMus in Opera Performance from the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, where she studied under Hanna van Niekerk, George Stevens, and Kamal Khan. During her studies she became increasingly drawn to the world behind the stage, working as an assistant director and stage manager on a range of productions. She also performed as Zerlina in Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the International Lyric Academy in Vicenza, Italy.

In 2019, Elisabeth joined Cape Town Opera, where she developed a broad artistic profile, working as Assistant Director, Resident Director, Company Manager, Assistant Producer, and Social Media Manager. Her time with the company took her across South Africa and to international stages in the Netherlands, China, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and Luxembourg. She has assisted leading International and South African directors including Matthew Wild, Alessandro Talevi, Steven Stead, Magdalene Minnaar, and Noa Naamat, on productions such as Die Zauberflöte, Così fan tutte, Porgy and Bess, La bohème, Le nozze di Figaro, L’elisir d’amore, Tosca, and La traviata, among others. 

As a Resident Director, Elisabeth has led new stagings of The Pearl Fishers (2021 & 2023), Der Schauspieldirektor (2024), and several of Cape Town Opera’s popular educational touring works including Twinkle Twinkle, Little Stars, Bubbles, and Jungle Journey. She also created the third installment company’s e-learning programme, Conduct Like a Pro, and was part of the creative team for Noa Naamat’s Porgy and Bess (2024) at the Beijing Music Festival, which marked the Chinese premiere of Gershwin’s opera.

In 2025, Elisabeth moved to Bonn, Germany, where she joined Theater Bonn as Regieassistentin und Abendspielleiterin. Since then, she has worked alongside directors such as Maxim Didenko, Roland Schwab, and Peter Konwitschny, contributing to new productions across a wide range of repertoire. She continues to expand her practice as an opera director, combining her background in performance with a deep interest in storytelling, visual metaphors, and the psychology of the stage.