The Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO
Ian Derrer is a passionate advocate for connecting audiences with the musical core and profound storytelling of opera. This commitment to creating an engaged and curious community around the centuries-old art form has served him well as The Dallas Opera’s (TDO) Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO, a post he has held since 2018.
As general director, Derrer annually oversees a season of four mainstage and two family opera productions, the annual Linda and Mitch Hart Institute for Women Conductors, the biennial National Vocal and Lone Star Vocal Competitions, the Robert E. and Jean Ann Titus Family Recital, the People’s Choice Concert, and several other concert and community presentations by The Dallas Opera Orchestra, as well as education and community engagement at a company with an average annual budget of $17.5 million.
Now in his seventh season as General Director and CEO, Ian Derrer is credited with ushering in an era of leadership marked by financial stability; artistic creativity and excellence; diversity and inclusivity in all areas of the company, from the Board and staff to guest artists and musicians; and an expanded commitment to engaging the communities of North Texas.
With an impressive background in singing and administration, he brings a unique understanding of opera that has placed an emphasis on highlighting major vocal talents of the day—such as Joyce DiDonato, John Holiday, Will Liverman, Lucas Meachem, Latonia Moore, and Angela Meade in mainstage productions, and Benjamin Appl, Angel Blue, Ying Fang, and Lawrence Brownlee in recital. He has navigated the challenging task of offering the best available productions of classic opera repertoire with innovative new stagings and productions in order to expand the catalogue with solid fiscal responsibility. This balance has demonstrated a marked increase in the region’s interest in opera.
Critical acclaim from both the Dallas Morning News and national media outlets has been increasingly positive since Derrer assumed his leadership of TDO. One Dallas Morning News critic noted that the 2023 new production of Das Rheingold was “one of the most impressive Dallas Opera stagings I’ve seen over the last quarter century.” The company’s recent world premiere of the TDO-commissioned The Diving Bell and the Butterfly was praised by The Wall Street Journal as a “production that took flight…. fully embracing and exploring opera’s superpowers to speak inner thoughts aloud.” 2024’s Elektra was heralded by the Dallas Morning News as “Stunning—visually, vocally, and orchestrally, opening night was a triumph.”
Other highlights of Derrer’s tenure at The Dallas Opera to date include successfully negotiating several new multi-year collective bargaining agreements; renewing the contract of music director Emmanuel Villaume; and the recent appointment of Paolo Bressan as Chorus Director and Head of Music. While safely navigating the two-year pandemic, Derrer led the launch of TDO’s ground-breaking digital initiative, thedallasopera.tv, which brought worldwide audiences a vast array of digital programming and performances designed to engage with opera when live performances were not possible. TDO now maintains a strong digital presence that has since evolved into engaging content on its social media channels, livestreaming mainstage productions, and offering TDO’s recent catalogue for free on-demand viewing during the summer months.
An enthusiastic fundraiser, Derrer has grown TDO’s annual fund through new and increased gifts, including the largest individual unrestricted gift in the company’s history; secured multi-year production sponsorships; diversified the Board and staff; and has overseen efforts to increase both the number of donors, as well as subscribers and individual ticket buyers—all of which has resulted in increased participation among new patrons.
Prior to joining The Dallas Opera as General Director and CEO, Ian Derrer was the General Director of the Kentucky Opera from 2016-2018, where he presented the Kentucky public with many important debuts, expanded opportunities for young artists, planned a mainstage season with all-female directors, and set goals to grow both new audiences and gifts to help reduce the company’s reliance upon a small hand full of major donors.
Derrer’s start in opera took a circuitous route. Born in Illinois and raised in North Carolina, he worked professionally as a singer, stage manager, and assistant director for influential regional and national companies which provided a wealth of experience that eventually led to his first administrative position as rehearsal and music coordinator for New York City Opera in 2004. That engagement was followed by eight years with Lyric Opera of Chicago, where he was promoted to the position of director of production and head of the rehearsal department before becoming artistic administrator of The Dallas Opera in 2014, a post he held for two years.
He holds degrees from Brooklyn College (Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts Management and Master of Music in Voice Performance): Northwestern University (Master of Music in Opera Production); and Southern Methodist University (Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance).