Seattle Opera has announced James Robinson as the company's next General and Artistic Director from September 4, 2024. Robinson will replace Christina Scheppelmann, who takes over as artistic director of Brussels’ La Monnaie/De Munt in January 2025.

Robinson comes to Seattle from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (OTSL), where he has served as Artistic Director since 2008. During his time in Saint Louis commissioned 11 world premieres, including Huang Ruo’s An American Soldier, and Terence Blanchard’s Champion and Fire Shut Up in My Bones, the latter of which opened the 2021/22 season at the Metropolitan Opera, becoming the first work by a Black composer to appear on that stage. 

As a stage director, Robinson has directed at least 75 new productions, including Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess which opened the 2019/20 season at the Metropolitan Opera, and later won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. And in January 2004, Robinson directed a production of Georges Bizet’s Carmen at Seattle Opera that sold more tickets than any opera in company history. 

Jonathan Rosoff, chair of the search committee said of Robinson's appointment: 'We are thrilled to have a leader of James’s caliber join us as General and Artistic Director of Seattle Opera ... Between his steadfast leadership, his impressive record of innovation, and his deep knowledge of opera, we are confident that James will make an immediate impact at Seattle Opera and lead the company into an exciting and inventive new era.'

Robinson said: 'I couldn’t be more excited to be joining the tremendous staff and board at Seattle Opera. Seattle is an opera town. It has opera in its DNA, and I am honored to be able to build on that rich tradition. I can’t wait to get to work creating art with and for the passionate audiences that have made Seattle Opera into the company it is today.'

seattleopera.org