Detroit Opera names Roberto Kalb as new music director
(CBS DETROIT) - Detroit Opera announced Monday that Roberto Kalb has been named as the new music director.
According to a press release, Kalb's new role is effective Nov. 20 through the end of the 2025-26 season. In his new role, Kalb will work alongside artistic director Yuval Sharon and associate artistic director Christine Goerke to manage the opera's musical performances. He will also conduct one production per season, beginning in fall 2023.
"I am thrilled to become the Music Director of Detroit Opera," Kalb said in a statement. "I feel deeply connected to this company, orchestra, and community. I can't wait to continue and aid in Detroit Opera's leading-edge artistry, under Wayne Brown's leadership, with Yuval Sharon's pioneering artistic vision, and to work closely with the brilliant Christine Goerke, and the amazing Detroit Opera staff.
"I've had such fabulous rapport with the Detroit Opera Orchestra from the get-go, and I'm excited for the many projects and operas that we will bring to life together in the coming seasons. I can't imagine an opera company that is more in touch with what it means to produce opera for our modern-day audiences, or one that is better attuned to its community."
Kalb started his career with Detroit Opera in the 2017-18 season. In April 2022, he led Sharon's reverse-chronology production of "La bohème."
He is the second music director in Detroit Opera, after founder and former artistic director David DiChiera held the position form 1963 until his retirement in 2016.
"Roberto Kalb is well known to members of the Detroit Opera Orchestra and fills a role of Music Director that has remained unfilled until now," President and CEO Wayne S. Brown said in a press release. "He will bring a unique buoyancy to the music experience at Detroit Opera. Since he obtained his master's degree from the University of Michigan, this appointment realizes a homecoming of sorts for Roberto. He returns to Detroit after conducting our post-pandemic return to the stage with La bohème."
