IAN CAMPBELL

Master of Ceremonies

Ian Campbell has worked in opera for more than fifty-five years as a singer, stage director, artistic director, broadcaster, lecturer, and company director. He began his career in 1967 in his native Australia as a tenor with Opera Australia, singing a variety of roles through the opening season in the Sydney Opera House, appearing in Der Rosenkavalier, Tannhäuser, Otello, The Rake’s Progress and Un ballo in maschera among many other operas. He moved into administration and stage direction in 1974, but returned to the stage as Ambrogio in The Barber of Seville with Florida Grand Opera in April 2023. He has been General Director of The State Opera of South Australia, Assistant Artistic Administrator with the MET Opera, and for thirty years was General Director and Artistic Director of San Diego Opera. He has given master classes around the USA and Australia including at the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, San Diego State University, Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and the University of Denver. He chaired the jury for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions at the Sydney Opera House and was a member of the jury for the Marcello Giordani Vocal Competition with Vero Beach Opera. As a stage director his productions include Falstaff, Katya Kabanova, Tosca, Don Quichotte, Murder in the Cathedral, La traviata, Il trovatore and La Bohème for San Diego Opera, The Tales of Hoffmann and La Bohème for the State Opera of South Australia, and Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci for Opera Santa Barbara. He directed Terrence McNally’s play Master Class for Opera Orlando in 2015. He was a member of the faculty for Martina Arroyo’s young artist program, Prelude to Performance, in New York in 2016, 2017 and 2018 directing La Bohème, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi and Falstaff. He directed Aida for Opera Idaho in 2019. For more than twenty years his weekly radio program At the Opera with Ian Campbell was heard in San Diego. In 2003 the San Diego Press Club honored him with both First Place for a Radio Series, and Best in Show for Radio in their annual awards program. The same year he received the Wolfensohn Award from Sydney University Graduates’ Union, North America, for services to the community. In 2024, for our Opera Studies program partnership with the Vero Beach Museum of Art, he presented a lecture called Aida, Verdi & Egypt: Sifting through the sands of time. His next lecture, La bohème and Puccini - the search for a libretto, is March 2, 2025 at 2:30 p.m. at the Vero Beach Museum of Art.