Meet the Canadian Opera Company's new top leader — a singer from North Carolina by way of Texas - Toronto Star

Ian Derrer, who joins the COC from the Dallas Opera, is taking the helm of one of Canada's largest cultural institutions at a crucial moment. 

Ian Derrer, the new general director of the Canadian Opera Company, is pictured at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto. 

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when opera houses worldwide were plunged into darkness, Ian Derrer took a major gamble. The then general director of the Dallas Opera spent nearly a year planning for a significant digital transformation: a new streaming service that would let the company’s homebound audiences continue to experience opera.

When the platform launched in the spring of 2021, it proved to be a hit. And in the years since, the company’s digital programming has grown to include free monthly recordings of previous Dallas Opera productions, all available on its YouTube channel. 

The Dallas Opera’s digital pivot was one of several initiatives that Derrer spearheaded during his time with the company, which he led from 2018 until this spring, steering the arts organization through and out of the pandemic. It was a tenure that, by many accounts, was a major success and included a $54.5 million fundraising campaign. 

Now, Derrer is hoping to translate that same success to the Canadian Opera Company (COC), which he now leads as its new general director. “I’m ready to start making some opera. This is an incredible city, an incredible opera house and a very well-regarded company,” he said, speaking with the Star earlier this month at the COC’s home of the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, as it prepares to raise the curtain on “La Traviata” and “Così fan Tutte,” its first two productions of the 2026-27 season. 

Derrer, a classically trained singer turned arts administrator, was named general director earlier this year and officially stepped into the role in July. He takes the reins of the COC at a crucial moment for the company, one of the country’s largest arts institutions, with an annual budget north of $30 million

Before Derrer’s appointment, the COC had been without a permanent leader for two years, following the abrupt and unexplained departure of former general director Perryn Leech. Like many other performing arts organizations across the country, the COC is also grappling with a shrinking membership base, changing ticket-buying habits and an audience with strong nationalist sentiment, hungry for more Canadian-made works. 

The COC’s home at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. 

But Derrer has big plans for the company. He also wants to introduce a similar digital push at the COC to the one he ushered in at the Dallas Opera some five years ago. “I’m very intent on growing the audience,” he said. “The COC is a famous international company, it’s a national opera company, but it also has to serve and represent its local audiences as well.” 

One of Derrer’s core priorities will be education and bringing opera into schools and community centres. “There are a lot of obstacles in getting kids to come experience the performing arts live at the Four Seasons Centre. It’s the money, it’s the transportation, it’s the time. It’s all of those things. And a lot of those are not within our control. But we have to figure out a way to knock those barriers down.”

Derrer said he also believes there’s an opportunity for the COC to grow its audience base by launching a streaming platform. Whether that looks like a direct-to-home streaming service or simulcast performances screened at movie theatres across the country, much like what the Metropolitan Opera currently does, is still to be determined. But the Four Seasons Centre, Derrer notes, has a digital studio and the infrastructure needed to facilitate filmed performances. And other companies, like the National Theatre of Great Britain, the Stratford Festival and the Dallas Opera, have also proven that offering on-demand streaming doesn’t necessarily negatively impact in-person attendance. “It can be a way to ensure that we’re being as accessible as we can for audiences across the country,” he said. 

As general director, Derrer will oversee the company’s finances and artistic programming, working closely alongside artistic director Roberto Mauro and music director Johannes Debus, who make up the core leadership team. 

In terms of artistic programming, Derrer said he’s “not looking to upset the model” that’s been established in recent years, referring to the mix of new and classic operas in any given season. (The COC’s upcoming lineup features two new Canadian works, two new-to-Toronto productions of classic operas and three remounts that have previously been seen on a COC stage.) “That balance seems to be working very well,” he said. 

But Derrer is open about his operatic tastes. He enjoys story-oriented works, and those inspired by mythology. He also loves Strauss and Wagner. “I absolutely want to do as many Wagner operas as often as possible,” he said. “They’re a little expensive, but they’re really attractive to me.” 

Derrer, though, mostly sidestepped questions on whether Toronto audiences could see a production of Wagner’s “Parsifal” in the near future. The six-hour epic, originally meant to be co-presented with the Metropolitan Opera and expected to be one of the largest productions in COC history, was originally scheduled for 2020, then deferred to 2022 before disappearing altogether from the COC’s schedule.

“I will say this: That title has been brought up many times since I’ve become general director,” said Derrer. “It is near and dear to a lot of people’s hearts here, and I know that there’s a great expectation, and a hope, to see it.”

Born in Illinois and raised in North Carolina, Derrer grew up in a musical family. His parents were amateur singers who performed in the chorus of a regional opera company. He saw his first opera — a dress rehearsal of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” — when he was three years old.

After earning a university degree in voice, Derrer transitioned to working in backstage production, spending several years as a stage manager before heading the production department at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and serving as the general director of the Kentucky Opera. 

As an American, Derrer’s appointment to lead one of Canada’s major cultural institutions will undoubtedly draw scrutiny. Before stepping into the role, he had never visited Toronto. He also acknowledges that he lacks the established connections with many Canadian artists and other arts institutions. 

But Derrer said that since arriving in Canada earlier this year, he’s been making an effort to embed himself in the community. “Those connections take time, and I think that it’s true in whatever city or country you’re in,” he said. “It’s about people. And ultimately, the more questions you ask, and the more curious you are as a person, those relationships start to take form. I’m hyper aware of that. And it’s something that I fully embraced when I pursued this job.” 

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Joshua Chong is a Toronto-based arts critic and culture reporter for the Star. Follow him on X: @joshualdwchong.