Kern Wildenthal General Director & CEO

Ian Derrer has a degree in voice performance from Southern Methodist University. As an undergraduate, he interned at The Dallas Opera as an assistant to legendary stage director John Copley for the 1995-96 Season production of Richard Strauss’ Elektra. Derrer went on to earn additional degrees in opera production and performing arts management from Northwestern University (Evanston, IL) and Brooklyn College.

He knows the opera world, inside out, having worked professionally as a singer, assistant stage manager, stage manager, and director in influential regional and national companies (Santa Fe Opera, The Atlanta Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera Pacific, and Washington National Opera) and obtaining international experience at the Institute of Vocal Arts in Chiari, Italy, before stepping up to his first administrative position at New York City Opera in 2004.

In two short years, Chicago came calling and Derrer accepted a position as rehearsal administrator for Lyric Opera. During his eight years with that renowned company, Ian rose through the ranks to serve as director of production and head of the rehearsal department before being invited to accept the position of artistic administrator for The Dallas Opera in the summer of 2014.

Mr. Derrer worked closely with then-General Director and CEO Keith Cerny and Maestro Villaume (the Mrs. Eugene McDermott Music Director) on casting, production and programming details; overseeing budgets for the artistic staff, principal artists, orchestra and chorus; and acting as the point of contact between TDO and the national unions (AGMA and AFM) on issues related to collective bargaining agreements. Additionally, he served as an important liaison between Artistic and the other departments that constitute the company: Development, Media and PR, Marketing, Production, Education, etc.

“I am personally excited—as are many of us at TDO and in the classical music community—to welcome Ian back to The Dallas Opera to assume this extremely important role,” writes Dallas Opera Music Director Emmanuel Villaume. “Ian’s background and intelligence, his wide range of experience, and his approachable personality make him the perfect leader to capitalize on the success achieved by The Dallas Opera and to guide the company in our next steps.”

Ian Derrer’s effective leadership over the past two seasons earned the notice of America’s most influential opera publication, Opera News magazine, which described him in a September 2017 feature article as a “Creative Force” in the industry.

During his tenure, Kentucky Opera presented a number of noteworthy debuts: Christine Brewer, Stephanie Blythe, Rodell Rosel, Emily Fons, Phyllis Pancella, Will Liverman, Megan Marino, John Irvin, Adam Lau, and Dale Travis. Future KO debuts secured by Mr. Derrer include Nicole Cabell, Mario Rojas, Jamez McCorkle, Brandie Sutton, Sean Michael Plumb, Danielle Pastin, Anthony Clark Evans, Mané Galoyan, and David Leigh—as well as conductors David Stern and Roberto Kalb.

Derrer also demonstrated his serious commitment to diversity by hiring women directors to stage all three mainstage productions of Kentucky Opera’s upcoming 2018-2019 Season. By expanding opportunities for young artists during his time as general director, Derrer sparked a notable increase in applications for the Barbara and Halsey Sandford Studio Artist Program. Many of those opportunities were the direct result of creative community outreach efforts and exciting partnerships and collaborations throughout the Greater Louisville area.

“Ian has been terrific to work with and we enjoyed having him at Kentucky Opera,” says Kentucky Opera Board Chairman William A. Blodgett, Jr. “He brings a great deal of artistic experience and creative thinking to the tasks at hand and has impressed us all with his boundless energy, his personal charm, and his confident approach to the job. Over these past two seasons, Ian Derrer upheld the high artistic standards of Kentucky Opera, for which we are grateful. The community regrets losing Ian but congratulates him on this opportunity to return to, and lead, The Dallas Opera. We know he will be a tremendous success there.”

Derrer has been a lifelong opera lover. When he was a child, both his parents sang in the Charlotte Opera Chorus (now Opera Carolina) and occasionally allowed him to attend their rehearsals. Even when the family was relaxing at home together, opera was often the music of choice on the turntable. Derrer recently told Opera News, “This was my misspent youth! I fell in love with languages…with various singers, I fell in love with the voice. It is still my passion.”

Photo: Kyle Flubaker

Serge Dorny was born in Wevelgem in Belgium. He began his theatre career in the dramaturge team under Gerard Mortier at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, moving from here to the Festival of Flanders, where was appointed Artistic Director in 1987. He revitalised the festival programme with a new repertoire and an innovative offering of baroque and contemporary, invited big, significant orchestras and engaged a series of conductors starting out on their careers, among them Iván Fischer, Valery Gergiev, Simon Rattle and Esa-Pekka Salonen, for example.
He was appointed General Director and Artistic Director of the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 1996, where he corrected the financial situation and re-established the orchestra’s artistic excellence. Kurt Masur was made Principal Conductor and Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor, and the cooperation with Bernard Haitink, Mariss Jansons and Wolfgang Sawallisch was intensified.
Serge Dorny has pursued an innovative artistic policy since his appointment as General Director of the Opéra national de Lyon in 2003. His bills has combined major works of the repertoire with lesser-known operas, developed thematic festivals and afforded the music of the 20th century and contemporary works a truly special significance. He has invited outstanding conductors such as William Christie, Lothar Koenigs, Stefano Montanari, Kazushi Ono, Kirill Petrenko, Jérémie Rhorer and Daniele Rustioni, recruited film and theatre directors such as Christophe Honoré, David Marton and Wajdi Mouawad for the opera, and established a continuous cooperation with renowned stage artistes such as Romeo Castellucci, Robert Lepage, La Fura dels Baus (Àlex Ollé), Laurent Pelly, Olivier Py and Dmitri Tcherniakov.

His initiative to make the opera house’s artistic offering accessible to audiences that previously had very few points of contact with musical theatre, and to bring them closer with special activities, such as the regular art and culture programme, now enjoys international renown here.
In 2017, the Opéra national de Lyon was named Opera House of the Year by the British press’s International Opera Awards and also declared Opera House of the Year with the “Opernwelt” specialist opera journal’s critics’ vote.

Serge Dorny is a Board Member of the Concours Reine Elisabeth in Brussels, of the Orchestre Français des Jeunes and the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Lyon. He is a regular juror with international music contests. From 2008 to 2014, he was a lecturer at the University of Zurich on the Executive Master in Arts Administration study course, and he has taught at the Accademia Teatro alla Scala in Milan since 2016. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Montreal in 2008. He is a Knight of the French Legion of Honour and the Belgian Order of the Crown.

Cynthia is the Employee Benefit Fund Investments Manager for Texas Instruments where she oversees the assets of TI’s worldwide benefit plans as well as the TI Foundation.  She has been with TI for over 25 years, and has held numerous finance and accounting roles, including expat assignments in Malaysia and India. Cynthia received her bachelor’s degree at The University of Texas at Austin, her master’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and holds a Texas CPA license.  Outside of work, Cynthia serves on The Dallas Opera board where she is on the Executive Committee and co-chair for the Nominating & Governance Committee.   As a Dallas native, she has been enjoying the arts since her parents took her to her first Dallas Summer Musicals performance at Fair Park as a child and it’s been a joy to watch the Dallas arts scene grow over the years. Cynthia & her husband just moved to the lake and can’t wait to start sailing this summer! In the meantime, they enjoy travel, cuisine, sports and music – and especially visiting their grown son who lives in New Orleans!