Ian Campbell (opera director)
Ian David Campbell (21 December 1945 (age 71)) is an Australian-born opera singer, stage director, administrator, radio broadcaster and writer. He was the General Director and Artistic Director of San Diego Opera from 1983 until 2014. As noted by James Chute in the San Diego UT on 19 March 2014 "the institution’s executive committee and Ian Campbell, its general and artistic director and CEO, concluded that the company’s finances were eroding to the point where its only viable course was to cease operations. The opera’s board of directors confirmed that assertion in a 33-1 vote Wednesday." The board's decision later became controversial.
After the composition of the board changed, he was placed on paid administrative leave from the company but, on May 15, 2014 it was announced in The Los Angeles Times that "Ian Campbell, the long-serving general and artistic director of San Diego Opera, has officially parted ways with the company following a contentious two months during which the decision to close the organization was met with a significant backlash."
Campbell was born in Brisbane, grew up in Townsville, and graduated from the University of Sydney, holding the designations of Fellow, and Certified Professional Manager, from the Australian Institute of Management.
He began his operatic career in 1967 as a principal character tenor with the Australian Opera (now known as Opera Australia), and retired from singing in 1974 following the first season in the Sydney Opera House. He moved into management as Senior Music Officer for the Australia Council from 1974 to 1976, and later became General Manager of the State Opera of South Australia in Adelaide from 1976 to 1982. In 1982 he joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Assistant Artistic Administrator before becoming the General and Artistic Director, CEO of San Diego Opera in 1983.
His stage directing credits include La bohème (1981) and The Tales of Hoffmann (1982) for the State Opera of South Australia; Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci for Santa Barbara Grand Opera (1999). For San Diego Opera he has staged Falstaff (1999), Il trovatore (2000), Tosca (2002), Katya Kabanova (2004) with Patricia Racette, La traviata (2004) with Anja Harteros singing her first Violetta, La bohème (2005) with Richard Leech, and Don Quichotte (2009) with Ferruccio Furlanetto and Denyce Graves.
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