Manager, Artistic Planning

REPORTS TO: Vice President, Artistic Planning

STATUS: Full-time, Exempt

Through artistic excellence coupled with innovative, relevant programming; initiatives to connect with and grow new audiences; engagement with communities to ignite creativity across Chicago; and a modernized Opera House that is the setting for truly great experiences, Lyric is leading the advancement of opera. This collaborative vision will deliver ever more exciting, thought-provoking and inclusive audience and community experiences – while increasing the gravitational pull of our art form, our company, and our city.
Lyric Opera of Chicago is seeking an experienced artistic administrator to join its Artistic Planning department for a wide range of productions and special projects, including main stage operas, Learning and Civic Engagement, Musicals, and digital work.  This role is responsible for contracting a variety of artistic personnel as well as managing principal artist participation in events and workshops, organizing auditions, and involvement in certain areas of casting. The ideal candidate will bring strong knowledge of opera repertoire, a background in opera artistic administration, excellent organizational and communication skills, and a commitment to diversity and inclusion in casting and planning.  .

 DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Casting 

• Assist in casting for main stage opera, primarily supporting roles and understudies
• Manage casting of solo children and speaking roles
• Manage Learning and Civic Engagement casting for in-school productions, chamber operas (when scheduled), and other projects as assigned
• Manage principal artist participation in workshops and special events (season announcement, annual meeting, etc.)
• When they are scheduled, manage Musicals principal casting process with General Director, Chief Artistic Administration Officer, VP Artistic Planning, Musicals director, conductor, and casting directors
• Participate in Musicals ensemble casting with Chorus Director and Music Administration staff
• Manage principal artist participation in digital projects
• Organize all local and out-of-town auditions
• Attend local performances and make occasional domestic talent scouting trips to summer festivals
  Contracting
• Contract main stage supporting roles and understudies including children and speaking roles
• Contract children’s chorus organization
• Contract miscellaneous main stage artistic staff as delegated
• Contract artists for workshops and special events
• Contract artists receiving honoraria for special events
• Contract Learning and Civic Engagement principal artists, understudies, conductors, directors and choreographers
• Contract Musicals principals, leading/featured understudies, conductor, director, choreographer, associate director/choreographer
• Contract principal artists for digital projects when negotiation is required

Managerial 

• Work with the VP, Artistic Planning to ensure all casting and contracting aligns within budget parameters and furthers the department’s financial stewardship
• Act as internal contact for musicals and Learning and Civic Engagement production casting information
• Work selected main stage manager on duty performance shifts
• Build relationships with conductors, directors, choreographers, and singers and resolve intermediate-level concerns as assigned
• Attend rehearsals to monitor progress, facilitate resolution of artist service/satisfaction issues and identify and escalate any artistic quality issues or emerging problems
• Be involved in public speaking engagements on behalf of Artistic to promote artists, the season, and the company.
• Participate in the AGMA collective bargaining process

General 

• Research artists for potential consideration with attention to Lyric’s IDEA priorities
• Develop familiarity with local casting pool for main stage speaking roles, Learning and Civic Engagement  productions, and musicals
• Provide rental production forces analysis and recommendations to senior management
• Network with counterpart artistic administrators and artist managers
• Proofread for Marketing: programs, press releases, brochures
• As the business evolves, so may this role. These duties may change as Lyric’s leadership identifies the need at any time.

 KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:

• Strong knowledge of opera repertoire, its casting requirements, and ability to evaluate singing.
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
• Minimum of 5 years experience in classical music artistic administration.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal dynamics, and oral/written communications, including the ability to work with a wide range of personalities required.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and Google Suite products is required
• Ability to work and think independently, a motivated self-starter who also works well in a larger team.

 WORK CONDITIONS:

• Ability to regularly work during evenings and weekends.
• Ability to occasionally oversee evening or weekend functions, deployments, or performances.
• Sitting / standing for extended periods of time.