Austin Lyric Opera: Pittsburgh Opera's Kevin Patterson takes the reins

Austin Lyric Opera has a new face. Last week, the board of trustees announced that Kevin Patterson of Pittsburgh Opera would be joining the organization as its new general director. Patterson succeeds Artistic Director Richard Buckley and managing director Tamara Hale, who both resigned in December. With their departures, the board of trustees opted to return to the single-director management structure that is the norm among American opera companies and was in place at ALO prior to Buckley's hiring in 2003.

Patterson comes to Austin after five years with Pittsburgh Opera, originally as director of production and in the past two years as director of artistic administration, which put him in charge of casting, artistic planning, and production planning for both the company itself and its young artist training program, the Pittsburgh Opera Center. The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music grad, who holds an master of business administration from Indiana Wesleyan University, also has been affiliated with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera, New Orleans Opera, and Opera Grand Rapids. He serves as vice chairman of Opera America's production/technical committee.

Patterson began punching the clock with ALO on the first of the month, but for the next three months, Patterson will be splitting his time between Austin and Pittsburgh while he wraps up work with his previous employer. He'll be full time at ALO a full month before the company opens its 2007-2008 season with a concert of Opera's Greatest Hits at Riverbend Centre. Then it's five months of getting ready for the company's debut at the Long Center with Bizet's Carmen. As for Maestro Buckley, he'll be around, gracing us with his musical skills as principal conductor all next season.