State Opera South Australia has announced that Dane Lam is its new Artistic Director.

Lam, who is also the Music Director of the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra, stated in an official press statement that  “My vision is to champion Australian artists and opera makers in joyous, diverse works,” while adding that ““The skill of storytelling through the power of the unamplified human voice, opera is an art form that stands apart for its ability to unite music, words, drama, design and much more – an exemplar of people working together to tell stories that speak to universal themes. This is what inspires me.”

Throughout his career, he has appeared with such companies as Opera Australia, Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park, the Canberra, Western Australia, Dunedin, Beijing, Suzhou, Kunming and Shandong Symphony Orchestras, Munich Radio Orchestra, Het Residentie Orkest, City of London Sinfonia, Manchester Camerata, Southbank Sinfonia, RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, and the Verbier Festival Orchestra, among others.

Lam is set to lead a production of “Orpheus and Eurydice” with Opera Australia in January 2024 and is set to conduct “La Bohème” with Hawai’i Opera Theatre in April 2024. Additionally, he has a season-long slate with the Hawai’i Symphony Orchestra throughout 2023-24.

The company also took the opportunity to announce that Ashley Miller would be its new Chair, a role she started back on Sept. 7, 2023. Miller is a Partner of KPMG and a Professor at Adelaide University.