Andreas Melinat is Vice President, Artistic Planning at Lyric Opera of Chicago where he collaborates with general director Anthony Freud and music director Enrique Mazzola on Lyric’s repertoire and casting. He is responsible for negotiating the contracts of the principal singers, conductors, directors, and choreographers engaged by the company. He also participates in the selection of the young artists of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. He regularly hears auditions in America and Europe on behalf of the company and has served on the jury for many vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as those sponsored by the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, the Dallas Opera Guild, the Opera Guild of Dayton, Young Texas Artists, the Jensen Foundation, and for the Marian Anderson Award. He has served as a panelist for OPERA America and the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera. Before joining Lyric in 2000, Mr. Melinat worked for seven years in the vocal division at Columbia Artists Management Inc. where he eventually reached the position of vice president and artist manager. Mr. Melinat received his B.A. with honors in economics from Harvard.