John Conklin was born in Hartford Connecticut, and educated at the Kingswood-Oxford School and Yale University.
In 1991 he designed the costumes for Robert Wilson's production of the Magic Flute at the Bastille Opera in Paris.
[1] In 2008 he retired from his position as Associate Artistic Director for the Glimmerglass Opera, a post he had held for eighteen years.
He is the artistic advisor for Boston Lyric Opera where his work has included Lucia de Lammermoor (2005) and Brittens's A Midsummer Night's Dream (2011).
Conklin is on the faculty of the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University where he teaches courses in design for stage and film.