The Seattle Opera has announced that Christina Scheppelmann will become the company’s fourth General Director starting in August 2019.

Per a press release, “In the Seattle area, Scheppelmann becomes the only woman to hold the top artistic leadership position at a large theater or performing arts organization (with an annual budget of more than $10 million). In the opera world, she becomes one of only two women to lead a top-tier opera company in the United States.” The other is Francesca Zambello.

Scheppelmann will take over from Aidan Lang, who will head over to the Welsh National Opera and become its General Director.

Scheppelmann is the current artistic leader of the Gran Teatre del Liceu; she was previously the first Director General of the Royal Opera Muscat and the Director of Artistic Operation at the Washington National Opera, where she oversaw 11 years of artistic planning for the company alongside Plácido Domingo. She was also the creator of WNO’s American Opera Initiative.

Scheppelmann has also led masterclasses, judged vocal competitions, and lectured at artist training programs.

“Scheppelmann is the leader Seattle Opera needs to move the company into a new era,” said Adam Fountain, a Seattle Opera Board Vice President and Search Committee Co-Chair in the press release. “She’s committed to new work, to helping the art form evolve, and to telling contemporary stories. She unites both where Seattle Opera has been, and where it’s going.”