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Jennifer Delacroix has joined Lamplighters Music Theatre as executive director following Cheryl Blalock’s retirement from the position. Delacroix previously worked as director of philanthropy at Code.org, an education nonprofit.

Joel Klein, previously general manager of the Association for Opera in Canada, has joined the Toronto-based performance company Volcano as director of touring and global collaboration.

Opera Company of Middlebury has appointed Robin Allen LaPlante, who has worked in development, marketing, and communications at several nonprofits, as managing director.

Perryn Leech has resigned as general director of Canadian Opera Company. David C. Ferguson, previously board president and chair, will serve as interim general director.

Lyric Opera of Chicago has appointed John Mangum as general director, president, and CEO. Mangum served most recently as the executive director and CEO of the Houston Symphony and has previously held artistic and leadership roles at organizations including the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, San Francisco Symphony, and New York Philharmonic.

Virginia Opera announced that General Director and CEO Peggy Kriha Miller will leave her post in 2025.

Stage director James Robinson has been named general and artistic director of Seattle Opera. Robinson, who has directed more than 75 productions around the world, comes to Seattle from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he has served as artistic director since 2008.

Arizona Opera announced that its president and general director, Joseph Specter, will step down in June 2025.

Sarasota Opera has promoted Melissa Voigt from senior development officer to director of development.

Opera Carolina has appointed Shanté Williams, a venture capitalist, as its new general director. She succeeds James Meena, who will remain the company’s artistic director and principal conductor. Williams previously served as a board member of Opera Carolina and will continue in her role as global CEO of the venture capital firm Black Pearl Global Investments.

Julia Zarcone has joined Opera San José as director of development. Zarcone previously worked in development for TheatreWorks, a nonprofit theater company in Silicon Valley.

Nashville Opera has hired Jennifer Zehnder, previously chief development officer for the YWCA of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, as director of major and planned gifts.

OA’s New Board Chair and Staff Appointments

OPERA America has promoted Jamelah Rimawi to chief programs officer. Rimawi will oversee programs that support new works and artist development, grantmaking to companies and artists, network forums and other convenings, and public events.

The organization also promoted Megan Carpenter to senior manager of government affairs a civic practice, a role in which they will lead OPERA America’s advocacy efforts.

Lee Anne Myslewski, vice president of opera and classical programming for Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, and vice chair of the OPERA America Board of Directors since 2022, has been elected board chair of OPERA America following the resignation of Susan G. Marineau from that position due to health reasons.

In addition, OPERA America’s board of directors has welcomed seven new members: Wayne Davis, board president of Boston Lyric Opera; Jason Hardy, general director and CEO of Knoxville Opera; Jessica Jahn, costume designer; Timothy Long, artistic and music director of opera at Eastman School of Music; Shawna Lucey, general director and CEO of Opera San José; Karen Molleson, vice president of the board at Long Beach Opera and president of the board at Wild Up; and Karen Tiller, stage director and former executive director or Hawai’i Opera Theatre. In addition, Timothy O’Leary, general director of Washington National Opera, has returned as a board member after a period of rotation following his tenure as board chair. E. Loren Meeker, general and artistic director of OPERA San Antonio, has been elected board secretary.

Kudos

The Music Critics Association of North America bestowed its Best New Opera award on composer Rene Orth and librettist Hannah Moscovitch for 10 Days in a Madhouse, premiered by Opera Philadelphia last fall. This award for musical and theatrical excellence is determined by a panel of music critics. In 2019, OPERA America helped fund the opera through its Opera Grants for Women Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Soprano Leah Hawkins has received the Metropolitan Opera’s 2024 Beverly Sills Artist Award, a $50,000 prize that recognizes an extraordinarily gifted singer with a rising Met career.

The Dallas Opera named tenor Long Long as its Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year for his performances as Romeo in Roméo et Juliette. The annual award, voted on by the Dallas Opera’s subscribers, recognizes a particularly outstanding company debut.

The Italian countertenor Carlo Vistoli won San Francisco Opera’s Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Emerging Stars Competition for his American stage and role debut in SFO’s Partenope. The award, which is decided by popular vote, includes a $10,000 prize.

At Opera Columbus’ 2024 Cooper-Bing Competition, mezzo-soprano Maggie Reneé won the first prize of $10,000.

In Memoriam

The Italian tenor Lando Bartolini, acclaimed for his verismo and bel canto roles, died on June 28 at age 87. Born in Prato, Italy, Bartolini moved to the U.S. to study at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and made his stage debut there in 1968, singing Luigi in Il tabarro at the St. Joseph Theater. He went on to appear with New York City Opera from 1976 to 1979 and made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1986, singing Cavaradossi during a Met tour to Boston, and continued performing with the company over the next decade.

The mezzo-soprano Dorothy Krebill Karayanis died on August 3 at age 94. An Iowa native, she studied voice and piano at the State University of Iowa before pursuing a graduate degree at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia. It was at Curtis that Dorothy met her future husband, the lyric baritone Plato Karayanis, who would go on to serve as The Dallas Opera’s general director from 1977 to 2000 as well as OPERA America’s board chair from 1993 to 1996. Dorothy appeared in the original Broadway productions of The Saint of Bleecker Street (1954) and Candide (1956) before moving with her husband to Europe, where the couple sang with regional companies for eight years. After returning to the U.S., they both joined the Metropolitan National Opera Company. In the 1960s, Dorothy appeared with San Francisco Opera, Philadelphia Lyric Opera, the Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and other companies. She wound down her stage career in the 1970s and became a fixture of Dallas’ cultural scene, renowned for her warm hospitality. She was predeceased by her husband, who died in 2022.

Joseph A. Marasco, Jr., M.D., a longtime trustee of Pittsburgh Opera, died on July 15 at age 92. Marasco was a highly regarded radiologist who practiced medicine at several Pittsburgh-area hospitals. A devoted opera lover, Marasco joined the board of Pittsburgh Opera in the 1980s, serving as president from 1982 to 1985 and as executive vice president from 1985 to 1999. As president, he led the company’s search for a new general director, which resulted in the appointment of stage director Tito Capobianco in 1983. After concluding his service on the board, Marasco remained deeply involved with the company, and in 2008, he served as interim general director for six months until the appointment of Christopher Hahn.

The Italian soprano Elena Mauti-Nunziata died on July 22 at age 77. Though her career was centered in Europe, Mauti-Nunziata appeared occasionally in the U.S., beginning in 1973 when she sang Elvira in I puritani at The Dallas Opera. From 1977 to 1979, she performed 26 times with the Metropolitan Opera, singing Mimì in La bohème, Violetta in La traviata, and Nedda in Pagliacci. She also appeared with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Cio-Cio-San in Madama Butterfly and Gilda in Rigoletto.

The tenor Paul Sperry, a champion of contemporary American art song, died on June 13 at age 90. Over the course of Sperry’s career, he premiered works by dozens of composers — including Leonard Bernstein, William Bolcom, Tom Cipullo, John Musto, and Bernard Rands — and recorded an extensive discography that includes five albums of American songs, the complete songs of Charles Ives, and Schubert’s Winterreise. He also edited numerous collections of American songs for G. Schirmer, Boosey & Hawkes, and other publishers. A dedicated pedagogue, he taught song repertoire at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College, and The Juilliard School.

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