Pittsburgh Opera: New Director, New Season Announced

Opera is all about celebrating voice and emotion. And so, when a particularly strong voice that has successfully sustained a city’s popular opera company for 26 years takes a well-deserved rest, that event comes with certain emotion. Christopher Hahn, Pittsburgh Opera’s retiring General Director, announced this week that William Powers will become the company’s new “voice” beginning July 1. Following the results of a national search to replace Hahn, the opera’s board selected Powers. Turns out, they didn’t need to search far. Powers has been the Executive Director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra for the past five years and, prior to that, Powers served the Pittsburgh Opera in many artistic and administrative capacities for 14 years. Said Board Chair Michele Fabrizi, “In many ways, Bill has been preparing for this role for decades.” Added Christopher Hahn, “There is no one I would rather turn the reins over to than Bill Powers.” 

And now, as Powers takes the driver’s seat, Pittsburgh Opera’s 2026-2027 season looms ahead. Opening October 10 will be Rigoletto, Verdi’s spin on the work of Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’Amuse (or The King Amuses Himself) in which the feature character is not a king, but the court jester, Rigoletto, who vows to protect his only daughter from a duke’s rakish ways. Following in November, Orpheus & Eurydice descends into hell. With music by Christoph Gluck, instrumentation by Berlioz, and a libretto by Calzabigi, this Greek myth of love lost, of grief, and of the wily powers of the gods all morph to reveal the tragedy of the mortal soul. Handel’s Partenope arrives on CAPA’s stage in January. A comedy of errors, a duel of wits, and a social butterfly make good fun forever in the battle of the sexes.

In Spring, the Pittsburgh Opera will feature new and old takes on the works of Shakespeare. In February and March, the world premiere of Working for the Macbeths will command the Bitz Opera Factory stage. The new opera, with music by Johanny Navarro and a libretto by Marcus Yi, follows the antics of Florinda, a lady-in-waiting newly hired by Lord and Lady Macbeth. The poor girl, despite the prophecy of three witches, is committed to ensuring that her bosses live happily ever after. Then, in April, on the Benedum stage, Romeo & Juliet will realize their fates in the grand opera written in 1867 by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré with music by Charles Gonoud. Of the many operatic takes on this classic love story, Gounod’s version is one of the most popular for its many extraordinary duets and French flair. 

́Of course, Pittsburgh Opera will be offering several cost-saving subscription packages. Celebrate this opera-tunity with your voice and choice. 

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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