For the second time in a decade, a Dallas Opera CEO is leaving Dallas and heading to Canada: Ian Derrer, who has been the TDO Kern Wildenthal General Director and CEO since 2018, will not renew his contract when it concludes at the end of this fiscal year, TDO announced in a release on February 10.

Derrer has been named General Director of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) in Toronto and will assume the role on July 1, the release says.

“This is a bittersweet moment for The Dallas Opera,” said Board Chair Quincy Roberts in a statement. “While we are thrilled for Ian and his new adventure, we’re sorry to lose such a creative and collaborative leader. His tenure with the company has been marked by great successes, including the recent fundraising campaign which has strengthened our fiscal position. We are grateful for his dedication to advancing opera in North Texas, and we wish him well.”

Derrer, a graduate of the SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, became the eighth general director in TDO's history. It marked a return to Dallas for Derrer (then the general director of Kentucky Opera), who served as artistic administrator of the Meadows School from 2014-16.

Derrer was named head of TDO in 2018, less than four months after then-CEO and general director Keith Cerny announced his resignation and headed for a post in Canada: as general director and CEO of Calgary Opera.

Cerny was lured back to North Texas the next year to become CEO of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, a position he still holds.

Dallas Opera administrators praised Derrer's tenure with the company, including his steady navigating of the pandemic; creating innovative ways to reach worldwide audiences; raising $54.5 million in six months and doubling its endowment; and commissioning and mounting multiple world premieres, the most recent of which garnered worldwide attention and rave reviews: Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer’s The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

“I am truly proud of the work that we’ve accomplished here in Dallas, and I know that I leave this great company in a solid position for its future,” said Derrer in a statement. “I am so very fortunate to have been able to work with a board, staff, and community that deeply loves opera, especially our music director, Emmanuel Villaume. While I look forward to this new opportunity with COC, I offer my sincerest gratitude and admiration to everyone at TDO and to the generous arts community in North Texas.”

TDO has not announced plans for a search for Derrer's replacement.