Opera Australia names first female Artistic Director

Opera Australia has announced the appointment of Jo Davies as its new Artistic Director - the first woman to hold the role in the company's 66-year history.

Welsh-born Davies will take up the post formally in November next year, when she relocates to Australia, stepping into the role vacated by Lyndon Terracini in October more than a year before his contract was due to end.

Speaking to ABC Arts ahead of the announcement on Monday afternoon, Davies advised "I'm very, very proud to be the first (woman to lead Opera Australia), although it's long overdue."

Davies has lived and worked primarily in London, New York, and Paris over her 20-year career, directing shows on the West End and Broadway, and for major international opera companies including London's Barbican, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, Washington National Opera, English National Opera, Dutch National Opera and Opera North in Leeds.

Davies, who hasn't previously worked in Australia before, plans to spend time in the country from early next year, to develop her relationships within Opera Australia and with local artists and organisations.

Advising that gender parity, Australian content and new work are her key priorities, she told told ABC Arts "I'm looking forward to collaborating and creating a vision with the people that I've already met at Opera Australia

"I'm not going to be in a vacuum. I'm going to be working and collaborating with a whole community of artists and that's a really big part of the excitement."

Davies’ appointment comes 16 months after Opera Australia appointed Fiona Allan as its first female Chief Executive.

Since joining the company, Allan has introduced workplace training initiatives around Indigenous cultural awareness and bullying and harassment mitigation; she's also introduced 'radical candor' training to provide a framework for conflict resolution.

Under Terracini's artistic directorship, Opera Australia began programming a range of musical co-productions as well as a range of more commercial shows including musicals,

In 2015, ticket revenue from these shows, including musicals, surpassed earnings from conventional opera.

Images: Jo Davies. Credit: Opera Australia/Kirstie Young.