Leadership

2023-2024 Board of Directors

Officers

Officers Sarah Marsh Rebelo

Sarah B. Marsh-Rebelo, GG, MFA
Chair of the Board

Officers Janet White

Janet White, MA, MBA, CSci, FRSC
President

Linda Spuck
Executive Vice President

Director Robert Kaplan

Robert Kaplan, PhD
Vice President, Finance

Clarice Perkins headshot blurred square small

Clarice Perkins
Secretary/Parliamentarian

Directors

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Robin Allgren, MD, PhD, MBA

Directors Joann Clark

Joann Clark

Directors Joan Henkelmann

Joan Henkelmann

Directors Karl Hostetler

Karl Hostetler, MD

Director Carol Lazier

Carol Lazier

Director Veronica Leff

Veronica Leff, MAM

Director Ronald Leonardi

Ronald Leonardi, PhD

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Brett MacLeod

Director Joseph Martinez

Joseph P. Martinez

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Brett McClain

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Coreen G. Petti

Director Gloria Shurman

Gloria M. Shurman, PhD

Director Mary Lindenstein Alshok

Mary Lindenstein Walshok, PhD

Honorary Life Directors

  • Teresa Fischlowitz*
  • Lee Goldberg
  • Harry F. Hixson, Jr., PhD
  • Sarah B. Marsh-Rebelo, GG

*Deceased

Email the Board of Directors at: boardofdirectors@sdopera.org

Honorary Director

  • Dame Zandra Rhodes

San Diego Opera Staff

Administrative & Patron Services Office

233 A Street, Suite 500
Centre City Building
San Diego, CA 92101

Telephone: 619-232-7636
Email: info@sdopera.com
Hours: Monday – Friday, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm



Not sure who to contact? Please send your email to info@sdopera.com and your message will be forwarded to the appropriate person. Thank you!

David Bennett

David Bennett

General Director

David Bennett is the General Director of San Diego Opera. Under his leadership since 2015, the Company has embarked on a series of community-based initiatives including a citywide Listening Tour series, free public performances, and family-friendly operas to better serve the diverse San Diego region. In 2016, the Company debuted its wildly popular dētour Series, which explores the expressive nature of opera with the potency of intimate theater. Prior to San Diego Opera, David was Gotham Chamber Opera’s Managing Director and Executive Director, and prior to that was at Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), Lower Manhattan’s center for dance education, creation, and performance, where he served as Managing Director. While at DNA, he led a $5.7 million capital campaign for DNA’s new home and oversaw the organization’s emergence as a significant producer of modern dance in New York City. Mr. Bennett was a Senior Consultant with Arts Resources International, where he provided a range of advisory services to non-profit arts organizations, including project feasibility studies, financial operating estimates, economic impact and market analyses, and fund-raising feasibility studies.

Before working in Arts Administration, he enjoyed a successful career in opera, appearing as a baritone with a number of companies and orchestras throughout the United States, including The Dallas Opera, the Dallas Symphony, Skylight Opera Theater, and Florentine Opera of Milwaukee. Mr. Bennett holds both an M.B.A. and an M.A. in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and has served on the Board of Directors of OPERA America.

Principal Conductor Yves Abel

Yves Abel

Principal Conductor

Maestro Yves Abel is San Diego Opera’s Principal Conductor. He made his Company debut in 2013 for performances of The Daughter of the Regiment. He returned in 2014 for Pagliacci, in 2016 for Madama Butterfly, and was last heard locally in 2019 for performances of Carmen. He is the Chief Conductor designate of the NordwestDeutsche Philarmonie, Germany. A frequent guest with the world’s great opera companies, Yves Abel has conducted performances at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; La Scala, Milan; the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Lyric Opera of Chicago; San Francisco Opera; Seattle Opera; Glyndebourne Festival; Bayerische Staatsoper; Opéra National de Paris; Netherlands Opera; Grand Théatre de Génève; Teatro San Carlo, Naples; Teatro Communale Bologna; New National Theatre, Tokyo; Welsh National Opera and Opera North. He has conducted new productions in Liceo (The Pearl Fishers), Munich (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), Geneva (Les Vêpres Siciliennes), Barcelona (Madama Butterfly), Bilbao (Norma), Toulouse (Lalo’s Le Roi d’Ys and The Tales of Hoffmann), Lisbon (Il Turco in Italia), Naples (Gounod’s Faust), Dallas (Ermione), Seattle (Il trovatore and Heggie’s The End of Affair), Monte Carlo Opera (Il Turco in Italia) and Santa Fe (Così fan tutte), and at the festivals of Pesaro, Caramoor, the Menuhin festival in Gstaad, and the Spoleto festival in Charleston and Spoleto, Italy. As Principal Guest Conductor of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin from 2005 to 2011, he conducted new productions of Don PasqualeSimon Boccanegrad’Albert’s Tiefland, and Carmen, as well as performances of The Marriage of FigaroLa traviataDialogues des CarmélitesLa bohème and Carmina Burana. He is a frequent guest at the Vienna Staatsoper where his repertoire includes The Daughter of the RegimentThe Elixir of LoveCarmenMadama ButterflySimon BoccanegraA Masked Ball, and L’italiana in Algeri. In concerts he has performed with the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra at the Tivoli Festival, the RTE National Symphony Orchestra, Dublin, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchèstre du Capitole de Toulouse, the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, and the Filarmonica Arturo Toscanini in Parma. He has also conducted the Toronto Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Netherlands Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Orchèstre National de Lyon, Orchestra of St. Luke’s New York, the Royal Liverpool, the Haydn Orchestra in Bolzano and the orchestras of Genoa, Naples, and Palermo among others. A Franco-Canadian, he has a particular affinity with the French repertoire and has won significant critical acclaim for his achievements as founder and Music Director of L’Opéra Francais de New York, with whom he has regenerated rare French operas and also performed the world premiere of Dusapin’s To be Sung. Since 1994, the company has performed regularly to capacity audiences at the Lincoln Center. He conducts at various festivals around the world including the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro and the Glyndebourne festival, among others. His recordings include Thaïs with Renée Fleming and Werther with Andrea Bocelli (Decca), Madama Butterfly with the Philharmonia Orchestra (Chandos), and two discs of French arias, one with Susan Graham and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Erato) and the other with Patricia Petibon and the Orchestra of the Opera National de Lyon (Decca). His most recent recording, ‘Romantique’, is a disc of romantic arias with Elīna Garanča on Deutsche Grammophon. In 2009 he was awarded the title Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

Finance and Operations

Jeannie Posner, CPA, Chief Operating and Financial Officer

Mario Adame, Business Analyst

Claudia Diaz-Acevedo, Staff Accountant

Joseph Huitzil, IT Administrator

Angie Mondragon, Administrative Assistant

Eduardo Saavedra, Operations Coordinator

Production

Joan T. Foster, Director of Production & Artistic Administration

Jason Bieber, Lighting Director

Ingrid Helton, Costume Director

Grace Herzog, Associate Director of Production

Liora Naor, Scenic Studio Office Assistant

Tim Wallace, Technical Director

Music

Bruce Stasyna, Conductor-in-Residence & Chorus Master

Melody Moore, Artistic Administrator

Education & Engagement

John Gabriel, Education Director

Teaching Artists

Bill Caballero
Karina Vanessa Flores Cabrera
Jessica Cortez
Cuez
Paola Evangelista
Philip Gomez
Devon Guthrie
Inocente
Precious Letchaw
Joey Molina
Xiomara Pastenes
Rebeca Tamez
Nicole Vincent




Audience Development & Philanthropy Department

Audience Development

Matthew Graber, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer

Vanessa Dinning, Group Sales Coordinator

Greg Watkins, Marketing Operations Director

Patron Services

Brad Fox, Patron Services Manager

Erin Oleno, Box Office Manager

Matt Kissel, Patron Services Associate

Evey Beach, Patron Services Associate

 

Outbound Sales

Theater Direct, 818-334-2759

Philanthropy Department

Llewellyn Crain, Chief Philanthropy Officer

Kevin Boudoin, Campaign and Data Specialist

Camryn Burton, Philanthropy Associate

Elizabeth Fittro, Major Gifts Officer

Peter Shavitz, Senior Philanthropy Officer

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