TIMOTHY O'LEARY WILL SUCCEED CHARLES MACKAY AS GENERAL DIRECTOR OF OPERA THEATRE OF SAINT LOUIS

OTSL Executive Director named to assume OTSL leadership post on October 1, 2008

St. Louis, June 19, 2008 - Timothy O'Leary, who came to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Executive Director in January, will succeed Charles MacKay as the company's General Director on October 1, 2008 when MacKay becomes General Director of the Santa Fe Opera. The announcement was made by Board Chairman Donna Wilkinson.

Timothy O'Leary joins the leadership team which includes long-time OTSL Music Director Stephen Lord and Artistic Director-designate James Robinson, who will succeed the late Colin Graham as the company's Artistic Director on October 1.

"Tim's succession is a direct result of Opera Theatre's strong tradition of strategic planning," said Donna Wilkinson. "The board conducted an extensive national search for an Executive Director in 2007, and it was Tim's outstanding qualifications, as well as his genuine warmth and charm, that made our choice an obvious one. I am extremely pleased that today the Board unanimously approved Tim's appointment to succeed Charles MacKay as General Director in October."

"Since January Tim O'Leary has been collaborating with Opera Theatre's board and staff," said Board chairman-elect Spencer Burke, "and we are forging ahead with a new strategic planning process that builds on the successes of the last five years and sets new goals for the next chapter in the company's history. We look forward enormously to working with him."

"We knew some time ago that Tim O'Leary was one of the rising stars in the next generation of arts administrators," says Charles MacKay. "He has a unique combination of talents and experience and knows the business from the ground up. Having seen the alacrity with which he has already engaged the whole OTSL family I cannot imagine a more ideal leader for the company."

"It is a tremendous honor to be appointed to follow Charles MacKay and build upon his extraordinary achievements at Opera Theatre," O'Leary says. "Because of Charles and Richard Gaddes before him, Opera Theatre has a worldwide reputation for excellence and innovation; it is beloved in the community for its uniquely welcoming atmosphere and devotion to the highest artistic standards. What's more, the company has an unsurpassed tradition of fiscal discipline, a growing number of subscribers, and meaningful education programs that reach more than 11,000 students in 21 school districts. It will be a privilege to work with James Robinson, Stephen Lord, and the brilliant Opera Theatre staff to lead the company into a new era. I am very grateful to Charles for his support and to the Opera Theatre Board of Directors for this wonderful opportunity."

About Timothy O'Leary

Timothy O'Leary brings a wide range of experience to Opera Theatre. He has worked in almost every aspect of the business -- as singer, fundraiser, director, producer, stage manager, grant writer, administrator, negotiator, marketer, and manager-and comes to the company at just about the age that Charles MacKay was when he came to St. Louis in 1984.

Most recently, as director of operations and planning at New York City Opera, his responsibilities included labor relations, co-productions, budgetary oversight, and producing the company's renowned Opera-For-All audience development program. Previously, he served as Managing Director of New York's downtown Gotham Chamber Opera, where he oversaw a period of rapid growth, produced American premieres by Handel and Sutermeister, and collaborated with Lincoln Center Festival and Spoleto Festival U.S.A. on the American premiere of a Respighi puppet opera. His fund-raising and grant-writing experience includes a tenure as Manager of Institutional Gifts for New York City Opera, where he increased funds for the education programs by 250%, as well as consulting for New York organizations including the Roundabout Theatre Company, the Alliance of the Arts and Theatre For A New Audience.

Like others on the OTSL staff, Timothy is a "crossover" from the artistic side of the opera business: he has been a stage director and assistant director for companies like Glimmerglass, New York City Opera and Florida Grand Opera. He studied voice and stage directing at Dartmouth College and later continued his directing studies as part of San Francisco Opera's prestigious Merola program.

Tim and his wife, Kara, are currently living in the Central West End of Saint Louis.

OTSL's 2008-9 leadership team

Music Director Stephen Lord, who was recently chosen by Opera News as "one of the 25 most influential names in U.S. opera" (one of four conductors), has been OTSL's music director since 1991, following a decade as the company's Artistic Advisor. He has also been Music Director of the Boston Lyric Opera, from which he retired at the end of the 2007 season. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in the spring of 2008 as conductor of the Grand Finals Concert of the Metropolitan Opera Guild Auditions. In addition to close to thirty operas in St. Louis, he has led productions for - among others - the San Francisco Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Opera Colorado, New York City Opera, and Dallas Opera. He will make his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2010.

James Robinson, whose term as artistic director of Opera Colorado ends in September 2008, has been in residence as OTSL Artistic Director-Designate for most of the 2008 season. He will assume full responsibilities as Artistic Director starting in 2009, when he directs Opera Theatre's landmark new performing version of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles; he will be involved in repertory planning starting with the 2010 season. Colin Graham was OTSL's artistic director from 1985 until his death in the spring of 2007. Robinson has directed some of OTSL's most successful productions, making his mainstage debut with Handel's Radamisto (2000) and continuing with Miss Havisham's Fire (2001), Nixon in China (2004), Street Scene (2006) and La traviata (2007). His first OTSL assignment was his stage directing debut with OTSL's touring production of Menotti's Chip and His Dog in 1991. He has staged acclaimed productions for major companies in New York, Santa Fe, Houston, San Francisco, Seattle and many more, as well as productions in Ireland, Sweden and Australia. His La boheme for New York City Opera was featured on "Live from Lincoln Center" on PBS, and his Minnesota Opera Turandot went on to more than 25 companies in North America.

Upcoming seasons at Opera Theatre

Opera Theatre's 2008 festival season opened on Saturday, May 24 and continues for 29 performances through Sunday, June 29. Highlights include premiere performances of the newly commissioned version of William Walton's Troilus and Cressida and the U.S. professional premiere of Martin y Soler's Una Cosa Rara. The season opened with a new production of Jacques Offenbach's The Tales of Hoffmann and Colin Graham's production of the "Brescia" version of Puccini's Madame Butterfly.

For 2009 Opera Theatre has commissioned a new performing edition of John Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles, to be directed by James Robinson in a co-production with Vancouver Opera and Wexford Festival Opera. The season opens with a new La bohème on Saturday, May 23 and continues through June 28 with new productions of Richard Strauss's Salome (its first OTSL production) and Mozart's youthful Il re pastore.

The Story of Opera Theatre of Saint Louis

Opera Theatre was founded in the spring of 1976 by a small group of St. Louisans determined to bring festival-quality opera to the St. Louis area. With a budget of $135,000 they presented an 11-performance season of both familiar and unconventional operas sung in English by young Americans including Sheri Greenawald, Ashley Putnam, and Vinson Cole - a style of production which continues to this day. Charles MacKay succeeded Richard Gaddes as General Director in 1985, with Artistic Director Colin Graham and Music Director Stephen Lord; Colin Graham died in April 2007. Members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra have performed for OTSL mainstage productions since 1978.

Since the beginning, the company's artistic home has been the 987-seat Loretto-Hilton Center at Webster University, whose garden setting is ideal for a spring festival season. As of 2008 the company had presented nineteen world and twenty-three American premieres, perhaps the highest percentage of new work in the repertory of any American company. Although the size of the theater limits box office income to 25% of the budget, the company has consistently produced work of the highest quality while never accumulating a deficit. In 2006 Opera Theatre moved into the Sally S. Levy Opera Center, a new rehearsal and office facility, whose construction was also completed without incurring any debt.

OTSL audiences enjoy picnics on the lawn under the tent outside the Loretto-Hilton center before performances, and celebrate with the artists afterward in a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere that is one of the hallmarks of the company. Opera Theatre is ideal both for newcomers and for lifelong lovers of opera.