(Credit: Pamela Raith)

Opera Australia has announced that international performing arts leader Fiona Allan has been appointed as the Company’s next Chief Executive Officer and will commence in the role by the end of 2021.

As the new CEO, Allan will return to Australia following many years in the United Kingdom, where she led multiple performing arts organizations including the UK’s Birmingham Hippodrome. She will be tasked with continuing to lead the company in its recovery from the devastating impacts of COVID-19 and reinforce the organization’s position in a post-pandemic world, as an industry leading, 21st century performing arts organization.

In a statement,  Opera Australia’s Chair, David Mortimer AO, said said, “We are thrilled that such an accomplished cultural and business leader has agreed to return home to Australia. This is a critical appointment because Opera Australia is the nation’s largest and most significant performing arts company, and our successful recovery from COVID-19 will help drive the entire arts sector by rebuilding jobs and activity.”

“I am hugely excited to be joining the team at Opera Australia. My career has always been about connecting new audiences with great art, so to do this with such an extraordinary company is an opportunity I relish,” Allan added.

Allan has previously been the Chief Executive of Leicester’s Curve Theatre and Artistic Director of the Wales Millennium Centre. She is also the President of UK Theatre, Chair of the Midlands Regional Tourism Board, and a director of several other arts and business organizations.