Berkshire Opera Festival Names First Director of Development

Berkshire Opera Festival (BOF) is pleased to announce the appointment of Karl E. Held as its first Director of Development. He begins his role with BOF on September 1, 2015.

Mr. Held, who hails from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, brings an extraordinary breadth of producing and fundraising experience across a broad spectrum of the performing arts. His clients have included such institutions as Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Tanglewood, the Spoleto Festivals in South Carolina and Italy, the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and The Philadelphia Orchestra, to name but a few. He was the visionary and driving force behind the renovation and gala re-opening of Gettysburg's Majestic Theater, and the creation and launch of the 2007-2008 inaugural season of the Gettysburg Festival.

He has served on several national councils for The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and currently serves on numerous boards and as an advisor to arts organizations in New York City and the greater metropolitan area. Mr. Held believes strongly that the arts in education are essential for inspiring and nurturing innovative thinkers who will become the future leaders of the world. Acting on this belief, he recently completed an appointment as President and CEO of the American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey, and was the Founding Executive Director of the Princeton Center for Arts and Education.

Also a Tony-nominated producer, Mr. Held in 2009 created Held-Haffner Productions, a live entertainment, feature film, and television company based in New York City and Hollywood, California. This company was one of the producing partners of the recent revival of Ragtime, nominated for seven Tony Awards and nine Drama Desk Awards.

Mr. Held remarked, "I am thrilled to be a part of the Berkshire Opera Festival family as we create the reality of what is going to be one of the most exciting new festivals for America in many years. The vision of its co-founders, Jonathon Loy and Brian Garman, is world-class, fresh, and innovative, and very much fills a void in the world of opera, as well as arts in education, while set in one of the most beautiful locations in the country, well known for its rich history of shaping our cultural landscape."

As BOF's first Director of Development, Mr. Held will be an integral part of the senior management team, and will lead the festival's fundraising efforts. In collaboration with BOF's founders, he will be responsible for devising and implementing all short-range and long-term strategies to increase contributed income, elevate BOF's public profile, and broaden the festival's philanthropic base.