Waterperry Opera Festival has announced that John Savournin will be its new Chief Executive Officer and Artistic Director.

He will assume his new position on Sept. 1, 2025 ,following a vote by the Board of Trustees of Waterperry Opera Festival.

“I have always greatly admired Waterperry Opera Festival, and I look forward to working with co-founders Rebecca Meltzer and Bertie Baigent to build on its success,” Savournin, who is currently the CEO and Artistic Director of Charles Court Opera, said per an official press release. “I’m excited to be a part of shaping Waterperry’s future, from touring and collaboration, the expansion of outreach projects, to new, accessible commissions. Waterperry is a leading light for the future of opera and the vital development of new audiences, and I’m very much looking forward to getting started.”

He takes over for Guy Verall-Withers, who will leave the festival after this season.

“Guy leaves on a high, with our best-selling season ever, one with all the hallmarks of our founding mission impressed into it,” said Judith Tew, Chair of the Board. “A show to introduce children to musical entertainment, a new production of Handel’s Semele that will transfer from Waterperry to Opera Holland Park in London (21 and 22 August), a dramatization of A World Turned Upside Down, in association with Anne Frank Fonds, composed by Juliana Hall, and Don Giovanni on our main stage in front of the 18th century house bringing a classic to new audiences. We will miss Guy’s drive and enthusiasm for the festival he started in a trio of founders only 8 years ago and wish him well.”

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