Seattle Opera Names New General and Artistic Director

James Robinson will step into the role from September 4, 2024

James Robinson has been appointed as the new General and Artistic Director of the Seattle Opera (SO). He comes to the position from a 16-year tenure at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and will step into the new role on September 4, 2024.

SO's current General and Artistic Director, Christina Scheppelmann, has accepted a position as General and Artistic Director of Brussels’ La Monnaie/De Munt.

As stage director, Robinson has designed and delivered more than 75 new productions at some of the world's top theaters, with more than 30 of these being world premiere performances. His production of Porgy and Bess was the season-opening performance at the Metropolitan Opera in 2019/20 and went on to win a GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording.

During his time at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Robinson produced Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier, which was hailed in The New York Times’ “The Best of Classical Music 2018,” and Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the latter of which opened the 2021/22 season at the Metropolitan Opera — and became the first work by a Black composer to appear on that stage.

"We are thrilled to have a leader of James’s caliber join us as General and Artistic Director of Seattle Opera," said Jonathan Rosoff, chair of the search committee. "An accomplished stage director and administrator, James is widely recognized as a leading creative force in this industry, and his productions have appeared at many of the world’s most respected opera houses. Between his steadfast leadership, his impressive record of innovation, and his deep knowledge of opera, we are confident that James will make an immediate impact at Seattle Opera and lead the company into an exciting and inventive new era.”

“I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the tremendous staff and board at Seattle Opera,” said Robinson. “Seattle is an opera town. It has opera in its DNA, and I am honored to be able to build on that rich tradition. I can’t wait to get to work creating art with and for the passionate audiences that have made Seattle Opera into the company it is today.”