Danish opera chief to take over at the Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera has announced that Kasper Holten, artistic director of the Royal Danish Opera, has been appointed Director of Opera at Covent Garden, to succeed Elaine Padmore at the end of this season.

A native of Copenhagen, 37-year-old Mr Holten has been the Danes' artistic director for 11 years. He is known as a fresh new voice in opera direction and has close ties with Danish broadcasting and digital opera transmission, and Tony Hall, the ROH chief executive, stressed in his welcome that this was a factor.

“Kasper Holten has done some fantastic and innovative work as a stage director and at the same time he has confirmed the Royal Danish Opera’s status as a major player in the international opera world. He joins the Royal Opera after 10 years of superb artistic achievement but also at a time of new economic challenges and further expansion in the digital arena,” said Hall.

Antonio Pappano, music director of the Royal Opera, said, “This is an enormously challenging job and Kasper’s first two seasons are packed full of exciting large-scale productions. I eagerly anticipate further creative planning discussion for future seasons when he arrives in September.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank Elaine Padmore for her wonderful friendship, support, counsel and leadership over the last 10 years, and wish her every success in her future ventures.”

Holten has staged more than 60 productions of opera, drama, operetta and musical theatre in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, France, Austria, Latvia, the USA and Russia. His production of Wagner’s Ring in Copenhagen 2003-2006 received international acclaim. Other key productions include Le nozze di Figaro (Theater an der Wien), Tannhäuser (Copenhagen), A Clockwork Orange (Stockholm), My Fair Lady (Copenhagen) and Die Tote Stadt (Helsinki).

In 2010 he created Juan – a modern cinematic version of Mozart’s Don Giovanni. It has been shown in film festivals in Korea, Switzerland, Sweden, Ukraine, Lithuania, USA, Germany and Turkey and will be on general release in cinemas in Denmark early next month. It will later be released in cinemas in the UK and other countries.

Holten studied theatre and music at the University of Copenhagen, and has worked as assistant director to John Cox, David Pountney and Harry Kupfer. He was artistic director of Aarhus Sommeropera Festival 1997-2000. He was a member of the Danish Music Council 1995-99 and the Danish Radio and TV Council 2000-8. He has been associate professor at Copenhagen Business School since 2007.

“I had promised myself to focus more on my artistic work when my contract in Copenhagen expires this summer after 11 exciting years," said Holten. "But if there is one job in the world that I cannot resist, it is this one. To work with Antonio Pappano, Tony Hall and Peter Katona in what I regard as the leading opera house of the world is an incredible opportunity for me. I will do my very best to contribute to further developing ROH as a leading opera house of the world with exciting productions, broad outreach and a standard of artistic quality second to none."

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