RALEIGH -- The newly formed North Carolina Opera has named its first general director, Eric Mitchko, who currently works for The Atlanta Opera House.
Mitchko will start his new job on July 6, and will oversee the company's daily operations and pursue its mission to succeed where other Triangle opera enterprises have failed.
North Carolina Opera was formed with the merger of the Opera Company of North Carolina and the smaller Capital Opera Raleigh. It has announced an ambitious first season of five performances, four of which will be fully staged operas.
As director of artistic administration in Atlanta, Mitchko was responsible for choosing the repertoire and casting, and overseeing each production. He organized the Atlanta Opera Chorus' participation in a 2008 production of Porgy and Bess that started in Paris and toured Europe. He also focused on a mix of contemporary and traditional programs in Atlanta.
Mitchko managed opera artists while a vice president at Columbia Artists Management and also while at Herbert Barnett Management in New York City. He is an alumnus of Princeton University and Columbia University, where he studied politics and philosphy.
His wife, Holly, and their children, Charles and Isabel, will join him in Raleigh.
