Opera North has announced that Garry Walker will take up the position of music director designate.

He will join the artistic management alongside general director Richard Mantle and director of planning Christine Jane Chibnall and will conduct two operas and several concerts during each season.

In a press release, Walker said, “I’m hugely honored to become music director of Opera North, and excited to maintain and advance the already enormously high artistic standards achieved. It is an organization I have a 20-year relationship with, and its warmth, inclusivity and genuine company ethos – something commented upon by so many visiting artists – is one of the key characteristics which has drawn me to Opera North over the years.”

Walker’s recently conducted the double bill of “Gianni Schicchi” & “The Rite of Spring.” He will open the new 2019-20 season with Martinů’s “The Greek Passion.” He will also remain chief conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz until the 2021-22 season.