is a French opera and theatre director. First a specialist for early opera, he became known for his versions of romantic operas, sometimes in international collaboration. His staging of Massenet's Manon was presented at the Vilnius National Opera, the San Francisco Opera and the Korea National Opera. His production of Bellini's I puritani was shown at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie and the Oper Frankfurt.
Born in Angers, Boussard studied at the Paris Nanterre University and graduated as a Master of Theatre. He was the assistant to several directors in theatre and opera. From 1996 to 2000, he directed the Studio-Théâtre de la Comédie-Française in Paris, where he made his directorial debut in 1999.
Since 2001, he has focused on staging operas, with regular collaborators Christian Lacroix for costumes, Vincent Lemaire for stage design and Guido Levi for light design.
His operatic beginning is marked by close collaborations with William Christie, Teresa Berganza and Bernard Foccroulle, director of the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) who has regularly invited him.
His productions have since been widely distributed in Europe, including Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Strasbourg Opera House, Liceu of Barcelona, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, Hamburg State Opera. La Monnaie in Brussels, Theater an der Wien, Royal Swedish Opera, Semperoper in Dresden, Saint Gall Theater, Bayerische Staatsoper, Aalto Theatre, and the Opéra de Marseille. He has staged operas in Asia, such as New National Theatre Tokyo, and in the US, including the Brooklyn Academy of Music. He has collaborated with conductors such as Yves Abel, Rinaldo Alessandrini, Lionel Bringuier, Paolo Carignani, Riccardo Frizza, Patrick Fournillier, Daniel Harding, René Jacobs, Alexander Joel, Alessandro De Marchi, Wayne Marshall, Carlo Montanaro, Renato Palumbo [it], Andreas Spering and Christian Thielemann, among others. He is also invited by festivals such as the Salzburg Easter Festival, Aix-en-Provence Festival, Innsbruck Festival of Early Music, Festival dei due mondi in Spoleto, and Festival Amazonas de Ópera. In international collaboration, his staging of Massenet's Manon began in 2015 at the Vilnius National Opera, and was later also presented at the San Francisco Opera and the Korea National Opera. His production of Bellini's I puritani was jointly shown at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège and the Oper Frankfurt.
He also stages singers' shows like Christophe (La Route des Mots – 2002) and Alain Bashung (La Tournée des grands espaces – 2004).
In 2009, he was appointed a knight in the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
