OPERA America Selects Participants for 2013 Leadership Intensive Program

OPERA America, the national nonprofit service organization for opera, is pleased to announce that 13 participants from the United States, Canada and Europe have been selected for its 2013 Leadership Intensive program. These future industry leaders were chosen through a competitive selection process.

The Leadership Intensive exemplifies OPERA America's firm commitment to identify and nurture leaders who will advance the creation, presentation and enjoyment of opera for years to come. This program seeks to identify the most promising emerging leaders in a range of opera administration fields and provide them with the skills and contacts needed to advance their careers.

The 2013 Leadership Intensive participants are: Jamie Andrews, community education director, Minnesota Opera; Jennifer Bradner, executive director, Opera Memphis; Garrett Collins, communications coordinator, Los Angeles Opera; Peggy Kriha Dye, general manager, Opera Columbus; Carolyne Hall, assistant to the artistic & general director, The Glimmerglass Festival (Cooperstown, NY); James Hampton, artistic services manager, The Dallas Opera; Zackery Hayhurst, associate artistic administrator, Arizona Opera; Bert Huffman, director of development, The Atlanta Opera; Christopher Powell, music administrator, Pittsburgh Opera; David Rubeo, manager of external affairs, Gotham Chamber Opera (New York, NY); Katherine Semcesen, associate director, education and outreach, Canadian Opera Company (Toronto, ON); Michael Mori, associate artistic director, Tapestry (Toronto, ON); and Audrey Jungers, manager, Opera Europa (Brussels, Belgium).

OPERA America's sister organizations, Opera.ca and Opera Europa, each selected their own participants, giving the program an international dimension.

The first meeting of the 2013 Leadership Intensive will take place during Opera Conference 2013 in Vancouver in May. During a series of seminars, participants will explore the opera industry, establishing a baseline of knowledge that will be built upon during the core of the program: a week-long workshop in New York City in July.

That session, taking place at OPERA America's new National Opera Center, will focus on advanced leadership development and will give participants access to decision-makers from within and outside the opera field. The series of diverse training activities will prepare these developing leaders to become successful executive and senior-level leaders, contributing to the strengthening of opera companies across the country.

"There is a steep learning curve when new staff take their first positions guiding departments or opera companies because there is no formal training process for these high-stakes situations," stated Marc. A. Scorca, president/CEO of OPERA America. "The interest that has been generated by this program in just its first two years is evidence that our industry's emerging leaders are hungry for this combination of valuable knowledge, skills and contacts."

Thanks to a generous gift from American Express, Leadership Intensive participants pay no registration fees and receive a generous subsidy for travel and accommodations.

For more information about OPERA America and its services, visit operaamerica.org.