Christopher Hahn, General Director of the Pittsburgh Opera, announced this week that he’s planning to retire from the position. Hahn, originally from South Africa, served in the leadership position for 13 years. However, he has officially been with the opera since 2000. “I came on in 2000 as Artistic Director,” he remembered. “When I picked up as General Director in 2008, I already had a sense of the vision getting to know the company. In retrospect, that sort of layered approach was helpful, because going into a new job at a new place can be very overwhelming.”
Pittsburgh Opera’s Christopher Hahn Announces Retirement
2008, also, wasn’t exactly the high point of the American economy. “There was this little thing called the Great Recession, so it wasn’t the best time to work at an opera,” he said, chuckling. But Hahn persevered and guided the opera through migrating to a new building, now its headquarters in the Strip District.
Part of what initially drew Hahn to work at the Pittsburgh Opera was its young artist training program. In his time as General Director, he built out that program further. Some of the artists who’ve worked in the training program under Hahn include include Sean Panikkar, Audrey Luna, Eric Ferring, Alexandra Loutsion, Taylor Raven, Benjamin Taylor, Stephanie Havey, Daniel O’Hearn, and Emily Richter.
A Focus on World Premieres
Hahn said what he thinks makes the Pittsburgh Opera special is its focus on world premieres. “[The audience has to have] real trust in the programming you’re building. But if you’re building a sense of mutual respect with the audience, they come to everything. They love all the old classics, of course, but also really love the new ones. Over the years, people have told me it’s the smaller, more intimate shows they remember,” he said.
In this new chapter of his life, Hahn will be returning to Cape Town more frequently to work in the opera community there. “I’d really like to help upcoming young singers there. There’s an amazing level of talent there, but it’s very difficult to break out and find opportunities,” he added. This is in line with the mark he’s left on Pittsburgh, making it a city where opera singers know they’ll have a lot of institutional support and practical training.
The final opera that will be produced Hahn’s leadership is Falstaff, appropriately, Giuseppe Verdi’s final opera. The opera will begin searching for a new General Director in the interim, with the support consulting firm Genovese Vanderhoof & Associates. “[General Director] is a very, very challenging job and takes a certain amount of craziness to want to do it,” Hahn said—something anyone in a creative field can relate to. “All I hope is that whoever takes over for me has that healthy combination of trepidation and curiosity.”
Story by Emma Riva
Photo courtesy of the Pittsburgh Opera
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