James Robinson is headed to Seattle after 16 years leading Opera Theatre of St. Louis

It’s the end of an era at Opera Theatre of St. Louis.

James Robinson, who worked at the company for years as a freelance director before becoming its artistic director in 2008, is moving on to a new job.

Robinson will become the general and artistic director for Seattle Opera next month. He’ll be just the fifth leader of the organization since its founding in 1963.

His tenure in St. Louis includes 11 full-length opera commissions, including two by film composer and jazz musician Terrence Blanchard. After its premiere in St. Louis, Blanchard’s “Fire Shut Up In My Bones” became the first opera by a Black composer to be performed by New York’s Metropolitan Opera. The Met later performed Blanchard’s first commission for Opera Theatre, “Champion.”

Working with then-general director Timothy O’Leary, Robinson spearheaded the company’s New Works, Bold Voices commissioning program. Through the New Works Collective launched in 2022, Opera Theatre taps an outside panel of community members to commission short operas by artists of color.

“We commissioned some really extraordinary work over the years. We brought pieces back that had been neglected. I think one of the things that I'm most proud of, of course, was the creation of the opera by Terence Blanchard that went on to the Metropolitan Opera and became so historically significant,” Robinson said.

David Jaewon Oh

In Seattle, Robinson will lead an organization with a $25 million annual budget, roughly twice that of Opera Theatre’s. It produces shows for nine months of the year, making for a different pace than that of Opera Theatre’s six-week festival format. Like many opera producers, Seattle Opera does face financial challenges. Tax documents show the organization ran a budget deficit of more than $850,000 as recently as fiscal 2022. Robinson will begin a five-year contract there on Sept. 4, replacing outgoing leader Christina Scheppelmann, who is moving to a new post in Brussels.

“We're looking for somebody that can lead Seattle Opera into a new chapter, and James had all of the capabilities,” said Jonathan Rosoff, chair of Seattle Opera’s search committee and president-elect of its board of directors. “He just has an incredible history of bringing new and interesting works to the stage, both at Opera Theatre of St Louis and in his stage direction around the world, and that was really attractive for us,” Rosoff added.

Robinson leaves Opera Theatre at a time when it is deep into the planning for the company’s 50th anniversary season in 2025. Its leaders will pause to consider what they are looking for in a new artistic leader before beginning a formal search for candidates, General Director Andrew Jorgensen said.

Opera Theatre will maintain artistic continuity in the meantime, Jorgensen said, with contributions from Artistic Director of Young Artist Programs Patricia Racette, Principal Conductor Daniela Candillai, Director of Artistic Administration Yvette Loynaz and Director of Production & Operations Stephen Ryan.

Robinson also is still participating in season planning and will return to direct the world premiere of “This House” in May.

“He's an absolute master of that craft, and you see it in the productions that he turns out. Jim is also an incredible collaborator with his artist colleagues. He knows how to bring people together and then how to empower them, and how to give them capacity to do great work,” Jorgensen said.

“It’s a bittersweet day. Of course, we’re going to miss Jim as an artistic leader and as a colleague,” Jorgensen added, “but it’s also hard not to be happy for somebody when they land such an extraordinary opportunity.”