Minnesota Opera taps Arizona opera leader as its next president

The Minnesota Opera on Thursday named Ryan Taylor its president and general director. He takes over May 1.

Taylor, 43, is currently general director of the Arizona Opera. Before becoming a manager, he sang baritone for a decade in productions around the country and was a member of the Minnesota Opera Resident Artist Program during the 2000-2001 season.

He's young, capable and already knows the company from his time in the resident artist program, said Minnesota Opera Artistic Director Dale Johnson.

"We wanted someone who was progressive, but also progressive in that that person would kind of understand what was at the bottom of the success of Minnesota Opera, really understand what we do here, and then be able to use that as a platform to move forward," Johnson said.

Taylor replaces Nina Archibal, who has been serving for about a year as interim director. She stepped in after Kevin Ramach resigned, saying he wanted to return to creative work.

Taylor is credited with turning around a bad financial situation in Arizona through successful fundraising and community engagement. While the Minnesota Opera is in good shape financially, Johnson said he hopes Taylor will broaden the company's community engagement.