ALLAN NAPLAN, General Director

Allan E. Naplan was appointed the General Director of the Madison Opera in June of 2005. Naplan brings to his position an extensive background as an arts administrator, professional opera singer, radio producer/host, and award winning composer.  Named the Capital Newspapers’ 2007 “Musician of the Year,” under Naplan’s leadership, Madison Opera has achieved record box office sales, enhanced education and outreach programming, increased fundraising, as well as expanded the company’s season to include three staged productions, an annual recital, plus the summer concert, Opera in the Park.  A proponent of making opera accessible to diverse audiences, upon his arrival in Madison, Naplan created the popular, Opera Up Close series, an informative and entertaining public enrichment series which regularly attracts capacity crowds.  Naplan also initiated TV and radio broadcasts, as well as internet streams for all of the company’s public events.  Along with extending Madison Opera’s reach to audiences outside of the opera house, under Naplan’s tenure, Madison Opera has also seen a 131% increase in opera subscription sales.

Prior to his current position, Naplan began his administrative career as the Assistant Artistic Administrator for the Houston Grand Opera, followed by four seasons as the Director of Artistic Administration for the Pittsburgh Opera, where he created the program, "POPERA, Opera as seen and heard through America's Pop culture", which he has presented to groups around the country.   A former professional operatic baritone, Naplan's active performing career included engagements with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Santa Fe, Boston, Virginia, Sarasota, Nashville, and Tulsa, among others.

For the opera industry's national service organization, Opera America, Naplan has served as a clinician and seminar panelist on issues ranging from young artist singer training to the use of media-based marketing for audience development. He has also authored a number of articles for the organization's publications.

An award winning composer published by Boosey & Hawkes, Shawnee Press, Silver Burdett-Ginn, Transcontinental Music, and Colla Voce Music, Naplan's choral works—many of which have become standard repertoire for treble choirs—have been performed and recorded in over thirty-five countries worldwide, and have been featured in concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The White House, as well as in the Academy Award nominated documentary, Sing!.  Naplan's 2001 work, An American Anthem, was chosen as the inaugural wake-up song for the NASA astronauts on Space Shuttle Columbia, Mission STS-107, and has since gone on to be performed by choruses and symphony orchestras around the country.

Naplan holds degrees in vocal performance and music education from the Ithaca College School of Music, where he was honored as the College's 2004 "Distinguished Young Alumni Award" recipient. Originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts, he now resides in Madison, WI along with his wife Christina.

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