Emily Gottlieb To Leave National Opera Studio To Become Executive Director At Longborough Festival Opera

National Opera Studio has announced that Emily Gottlieb, Chief Executive since 2015, will be leaving her role in March 2024 to become Executive Director of Longborough Festival Opera in April.

Under Emily’s dedicated leadership, the National Opera Studio [NOS] has continued to build an internationally recognised reputation as the UK’s leading opera training organisation, providing intensive, bespoke and fully funded professional training at the highest level. Working in partnership with the six leading opera companies in the UK, the National Opera Studio’s renowned Global Talent Programme supports around 16 young singers and repetiteurs from all over the world each year, working to prepare them for life on the international opera stage.

Emily’s visionary approach has widened the organisation’s offer and scope. It has incorporated a performers’ resilience strand of work and extended its training under its Diverse Voices initiative to include performers at earlier stages of their singing pathway from backgrounds currently under-represented in opera. This work ranges from connecting children and young people to local musical communities all the way to training artists who are already singing professionally on stage. Emily has also expanded the Studio’s distinctive opera company residency model, initiating an annual collaboration with the ENO orchestra and Glyndebourne, alongside the now annual projects with Opera North, Scottish Opera and Welsh National Opera. She has successfully seen the NOS into the 2018-22 and 2023-26 ACE National Portfolios, broadened the organisation’s partnerships and overseen a period of financial growth and stability.

Nicholas Allan, Chair of Board of Trustees, said: “The Studio is eternally grateful to Emily for her sterling work over the last nine years. She has built an already world-class training institution into a stable and respected entity that is clearly focused on the future needs of opera companies and young artists. She has expanded our mission, kept us in the coveted ACE National Portfolio, considerably raised our international profile and leaves behind a resilient organisation that seeks to achieve excellence, while remaining caring and supportive. I will miss her clarity of vision and collegiate spirit.”

Emily Gottlieb, Chief Executive of National Opera Studio, said: “I shall look back at my time at the National Opera Studio with enormous gratitude and pride. I will miss the incredible staff, young artists, alumni, coaches and creative teams, and will relish seeing them in my new role and in the opera houses of the world for years to come. I am immensely proud of what we have collectively achieved and leave a generous and talented team who have the ethos of adaptability, curiosity and drive that is the hallmark of the Studio. They will continue to respond to the needs of the sector and its artists for years to come. I’m grateful for the support of Arts Council England, to our wonderful family of loyal supporters, to the Board of Trustees and our partner companies, who continue to underpin and champion our work.”

As the NOS looks towards its 50th anniversary in 2027, the proactive, industry-facing approach that Emily has spearheaded leaves it in a strong position to retain its pre-eminent position at the forefront of world-class opera training in the UK.

Nicholas Allan will work with the Board of Trustees to build on the strong foundations established by Emily and ensure a seamless transition in leadership.

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