Important Insights About The Canadian Opera Company's New General Manager

Canada's Opera Company has a new Intendant.

I thought I had written this out on the blog, but after Richard Bradshaw died, I had hoped that the COC would come hire someone young, who would be willing to stick around for a while, as Bradshaw had done, and build on the late man's work.

Not only do they appeared to have followed my advice (did they intercept my e-mails? One wonders), but they've scored a guy who's really connected to some big names - his talk about more co-productions can only mean that we will be sharing with Neef's close colleague, Gerard Mortier, who's taking over at the New York City Opera.

As for those of you who will talk about the fact that they couldn't (or didn't) find a Canadian, here's the thing - that's a ridiculous question, actually, although I expect to see it asked by someone, somewhere, need some space to fill.

And yes, he's young. Although it's ludicrous to think that this will somehow translate into expanding the coveted younger audience (what is this, MTV?), his youth could mean that if he really likes it here he'll stick around. Or exactly the opposite.

Now if only we could deal with the matter of the Four Seasons Opera House and the number of performances it can handle...but that, my friends, is another, much more serious, and much more complicated story.

What I can say is that I wish Alexander Neef all the best!