Minnesota Opera has announced the hiring of Priti Gandhi in the newly created position of chief artistic officer.

The position, which will be effective on July 2, 2018, will see Gandhi come to Minnesota Opera from San Diego Opera, where she is currently the artistic administrator.

“On behalf of the entire team at Minnesota Opera, I am thrilled to welcome Priti as chief artistic officer. She is an experienced artist, a skilled administrator and a respected voice in the opera community. Our board and staff were collectively impressed by her poise, collaborative energy and proven track record of innovation in overseeing the day-to-day artistic operations of a major opera company. I couldn’t be more excited to incorporate her leadership and vision in our creative planning as we move forward!,” said President and General Director Ryan Taylor. “

Gandhi has previously served as a member of the administrative team that helped to save San Diego Opera from near closure in 2014.  She also had a 20-year international opera career, appearing with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, San Diego Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, the Royal Opera House, Prague Estates Theatre, New York City Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Opera. Outside of opera administration, Gandhi has previously served as global network membership manager with The Chopra Center for Wellbeing and promotions office manager for KFMB Radio/TV. Gandhi graduated with a bachelor of arts in communications and a minor in theatre from the University of California, San Diego, has served as a published weekly columnist with The San Diego Union-Tribune and was an honored alumna and commencement speaker at Thurgood Marshall College at UCSD in 2016.