[2] By 1990 Kent had formed an association with the Scottish actor Ian McDiarmid, and between 1990 and 2002 as joint artistic directors, they turned the Almeida into a major producing theatre.
He returned that same year to Santa Fe for Mozart's Lucio Silla and again in 2006, when he directed the US premiere of Thomas Adès' The Tempest, which received significant critical acclaim.
London's The Sunday Times critic, Hugh Canning wrote: Kent's production began with one of the most magical stage images I can recall in recent opera seasons.
The dune-like 'island' provides opportunities for wittily surprising entrances – at one point, Ariel's head pops out of Prospero's magic cabinet – and perilous exits – the comic characters, Stefano and Trinculo, are swallowed up as if by quicksand.
Kent "believes Tosca, which Puccini adapted from a five-act French play, is an ideal vehicle for his talents: What I admire about it, quite apart from the thrilling music, is its theatre craft ...
[10]In 2007 Kent directed Richard Strauss' Elektra at the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg and Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in its 2007 season.
[12] Kent made his debut at the English National Opera with Richard Wagner's The Flying Dutchman in 2012 before taking it to the Royal Danish Theatre, Copenhagen, the following year.