CINCINNATI — The general manager and CEO of the Cincinnati Opera will retire after 35 years with the company.
Patricia K. Beggs will retire in August, 2020, at the close of the opera’s 100th anniversary season, the opera announced Friday.
Beggs said she’s had a ‘dream job.’
“To go to work at one of the most iconic buildings in the country, to be inspired daily by the glorious music being created in Music Hall,” she said, “to learn from the best and brightest people who make up the Opera’s staff, Board, Guild, and volunteers, as well as my arts colleagues, and finally to sit in glorious Springer Auditorium on Cincinnati Opera’s opening night, and know that I played a small role in making the magic happen. The best job ever!”
Beggs joined the Cincinnati Opera staff in 1984 as marketing director. She took over as general manager in 1997. During that time the company’s operating budget increase from $4 million in 1997 to $9 million in 2019, opera officials said, and the company maintained a balanced budget 21 out the 22 years that Beggs served as general manager.
Under her watch, the Cincinnati Opera moved to the Corbett Opera Center, the administrative headquarters in the north wing of Music Hall. The opera and University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music formed Opera Fusion, and the Cincinnati Opera launched the Opera Campus initiative, bringing the opera to additional venues in Over-the-Rhine, the opera said.
A national search is underway for a new general manager.
