North Carolina Opera's Artistic And Music Director To Step Down

North Carolina Opera's Artistic & Music Director Timothy Myers is stepping down from his post at the end of September. Maestro Myers stated: "I am enormously grateful to the board, orchestra, chorus, patrons and, most importantly, the audience of North Carolina Opera for the opportunity to work together in building an artistically thriving organization over the last near decade. My tenure with NCO, both on and off the podium, has been an inspiring experience that also proved an important incubator for me as a conductor and artistic director. I am enormously proud of the work we've accomplished to build an organization that both inspires our community and enriches our art form. Although for now my career moves me on to other opportunities, my passion for NCO and the Triangle community abides, and I am excited to watch the company move into the future we've created together," he concluded.

As he has successfully guided the artistic development of North Carolina Opera, Maestro Myers's guest conducting career at other prominent opera companies has also flourished. He has made recent well-received conducting appearances at Houston Grand Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Washington National Opera, Central City Opera and the Wexford Festival Opera. He conducted the world premieres of Daniel Crozier's With Blood, With Ink at Fort Worth Opera and Ricky Ian Gordon's A Coffin in Egypt (featuring mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade) at Houston Grand Opera; both operas were recorded and commercially released on acclaimed compact discs. He also led the premieres of Gregory Spears and Royce Vavrek's O Columbia at Houston Grand Opera, LUna Pearl Woolf and Caitlin Vincent's Better Gods at Washington National Opera, and John Supko's All Souls at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which he later conducted at North Carolina Opera.

In 2016, Maestro Myers conducted major revivals of two American operas. He led the 60th anniversary production of The Ballad of Baby Doe at Central City Opera featuring Anna Christy in the title role and Susanne Mentzer as Augusta Tabor. This milestone new production was especially acclaimed for its vocal performances and sensitive conducting. His conducting of Samuel Barber's Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Vanessa at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland was particularly lauded in the international media; he was immediately reengaged to conduct Jacopo Foroni's rarely performed opera Margherita at the company's 2017 festival.

Other upcoming engagements have Maestro Myers debuting with both Lyric Opera of Chicago and Florida Grand Opera and returning to the Curtis Opera Theatre to conduct John Adams's Doctor Atomic. Next season, he returns to Houston Grand Opera to conduct Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story, the first staging of the work by a major American Opera Company. HGO's West Side Story, directed by Francesca Zambello, is a co-production with Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Glimmerglass Festival.

North Carolina's General Director Eric Mitchko remarked that "Under Tim's artistic leadership and expert conducting, NCO has hit great heights. We're going to miss him, and I'm going to miss working with him, but we are thrilled to see his career thriving. North Carolina Opera will always be proud to have played a part in that career, and we'll always be grateful for the incredible work he has done with us and for this community." Mitchko also noted that Maestro Myers will return to the company as guest conductor for an opera in concert during the 2017-18 season. Maestro Myers will also conduct NCO's 2016-17 season finale of Bizet's The Pearl Fishers on April 28 and 30.

TIMOTHY MYERS AT NC OPERA: HIGHLIGHTS AND MILESTONES

North Carolina Opera was formed in 2010 with the merger of Opera Company of North Carolina and Capital Opera Raleigh with Maestro Myers as its Artistic Director & Principal Conductor. In 2015, he was elevated to his current position of Artistic & Music Director.

During Maestro Myers's tenure, the company has experienced significant growth and produced many artistic triumphs from a broad repertory of works. Maestro Myers has conducted critically acclaimed and popular North Carolina Opera productions of Bizet's Carmen, Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Verdi's La traviata, Puccini's Tosca and Madama Butterfly and Mozart's Così fan tutte and Don Giovanni (for which he played recitatives on the harpsichord and conducted from the keyboard.)

The performance of the works of Richard Wagner have substantially advanced the North Carolina Opera's artistic profile and garnered great acclaim. In 2013, Maestro Myers conducted Act I of the Wagner's Die Walküre in a concert also featuring other selections by the composer. The success of that initial Wagner concert led to even more ambitious offerings. In 2014, he conducted the Prelude and Act II of Wagner's groundbreaking Tristan and Isolde in concert featuring Metropolitan Opera singers Heidi Melton, Jay Hunter Morris and Elizabeth Bishop. The concert was recorded live and subsequently broadcast to a worldwide audience on the Classical Station, WCPE-FM.

Then in 2016, Myers conducted the company's first full-length Wagner opera: Das Rheingold, the first work in the composer's monumental Ring Cycle. The production, directed by James Marvel with projections by S. Katy Tucker, was proclaimed as "Epic and NCO's most ambitious yet" and wildly cheered by capacity audiences.

Maestro Myers's artistic development of the North Carolina Opera Orchestra has been particularly noteworthy. In addition to the Wagner offerings, he has conducted many works in concert or semi-staged versions that present the large orchestra on the stage with the singers. These include highly successful company premieres of Dvo?ák's Rusalka and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, which was recorded live and subsequently broadcast on the Classical Station, WCPE-FM. He also conducted both Verdi's Aida and Il trovatore in this format both at Raleigh's Meymandi Concert Hall and Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill. The NC Opera Orchestra was also featured in two popular Opera in the Pines concerts, which brought opera to a larger and more diverse audience in a unique setting at the Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, NC.

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA OPERA

North Carolina Opera was formed in 2010 from the merger of the Opera Company of North Carolina and Capital Opera Raleigh. It is dedicated to presenting operatic performances at the highest level throughout the Triangle. We also have a robust education program that brings opera to schools across Wake County and surrounding counties. North Carolina Opera brings international level artists to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, and also engages the best in local Triangle talent.

North Carolina Opera's 2016-17 season continues with Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (February 25-March 5), Michael Fabiano in Recital (March 28) and Bizet's The Pearl Fishers (April 28 & 30). For tickets or more information, visit www.ncopera.org or call 919-972-3853.