This just in:

Calgary Opera Announces New Resident Conductor

Calgary, AB… Following an extensive search, Calgary Opera announces the appointment of Christopher Mokrzewski as Resident Conductor.

“Calgary Opera had the opportunity to have Christopher Mokrzewski as repetiteur for a six-week period in October and November,” says General Director and CEO Bob McPhee. “During that time it was very evident that he was the ideal candidate and would bring the appropriate skill set to our company.”

This appointment builds on the success of the previous Resident Conductor, Gordon Gerrard. After three years with the company, Mr. Gerrard won the Enbridge Emerging Artist Award and is now a regular mainstage conductor in Calgary and throughout North America. Most recently he was appointed Assistant Conductor to the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Mokrzewski is thrilled by the opportunity to further his skills in collaboration with Calgary Opera. Currently a resident of Toronto, he is the Music Director of Against the Grain Theatre and a regular music staff member at the Canadian Opera Company.

“I am very excited to be joining Calgary Opera,” says Mokrzewski. “To collaborate with such a distinguished and forward-thinking Canadian company is a privilege and a remarkable opportunity. I also look forward to working with its Emerging Artists Development Program, which contains extraordinary young talent and has a strong presence in the Calgary community.”

Calgary Opera would like to thank Canada Council for the Arts for their support of the Resident Conductor program.

I really wanted to highlight this because Topher is an amazing artist and I’m sure this is the first step in a very exciting conducting career.  He and Joel Ivany (watch out for that name too) have made Against the Grain Theatre the most exciting thing in Toronto opera since the Four Seasons Centre opened.  I hope we’ll still see plenty of Topher in Toronto.  Calgary couldn’t have made a better choice.