Calgary Opera has announced that Artistic Director Bramwell Tovey, O.C. has decided to resign from his position with the company.

Tovey has held the position since January 2019 and decided to step down to address an ongoing battle with cancer, for which he was diagnosed in June of 2019.

In his stead, Managing Director and CEO Heather Kitchen will lead the company’s administrative operations as the company seeks out interim artistic leadership.

Tovey will return to Calgary Opera to conduct “Fidelio” in October 2021.

Tovey is the principal conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, music director emeritus of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (where he was music director between 2000-2018), and artistic advisor to the Rhode Island Philharmonic. He is also a noted composer, with the Calgary Opera commissioning a new opera “The Inventor” in 2007 for a 2011 premiere.