Michael Christie named Minnesota Opera's new music director

The Minnesota Opera has named Michael Christie as its new music director, a new position. In the past, the Opera, hired a conductor on a production-by-production basis.

Christie is currently music director at the Phoenix Symphony and led the Brooklyn Philharmonic for five years. He says his job will be to bring more continuity to the Minnesota Opera musicians.

"They are not playing year round like the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and the Minnesota Orchestra, and so it's really my job as the music director of this group, like it was in Brooklyn, to provide a consistency about how we operate when we come together, over, kind of scattered throughout the year," he said.

Christie, who conducted the Minnesota Opera's recent world premier production of "Silent Night," says he's excited about the company's commitment to new works.

"I just thought, 'Boy if this is the kind of environment for fostering the creation of new works, then I am in the right place,'" he said.

Minnesota Opera Artistic Director Dale Johnson says the company chose Christie after a multi-year selection process.

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