WNO general director to retire

Welsh National Opera (WNO) has today announced that the Company’s general director, Aidan Lang, will step down at the end of this year to spend more time with his family. Lang’s departure follows four years in the role and more than 40 years working in the wider opera industry.

Productions overseen by Lang during his time at the helm of the Company include new commission Blaze of Glory! as well as new productions of Janáček’s The Makropulos Affair and Bernstein’s Candide (pictured above). He also supported the company through the pandemic with a digital performance of Poulenc’s La Voix Humaine and a production of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland as lockdowns lifted.

Lang said: ‘For me, like so many others, WNO is where my opera career truly began, and it has been an enormous privilege to head up this wonderful Company. Having worked in opera in different roles continuously for over 40 years, I feel the time is now right for me to enjoy more time with my family and for someone else to take WNO to its next chapter. My love for opera was ignited as a student in Birmingham watching WNO productions, and I am thoroughly looking forward to returning as an audience member.’

Having started out as a staff director at Glyndebourne, Lang joined WNO as a staff director in the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1990, he was appointed as the first artistic director of touring company Opera Zuid, based in Maastricht in the Netherlands a role he balanced with his responsibilities as director of production at Glyndebourne Touring Opera. In the early 2000s, alongside work as a freelance director, Lang was artistic director of the Buxton Festival before becoming general director of New Zealand Opera. In 2014, he moved to the US to become general director of Seattle Opera and in 2019, returned to WNO to take up the role of general director.

WNO chair Yvette Vaughan-Jones said: ‘I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of the Board, the Company and opera audiences in Wales and beyond to thank Aidan for his exemplary contribution to WNO during his tenure. Aidan’s artistic credentials are second to none and, despite the unprecedented challenges of the last four years and the impact these have had on the arts sector, his artistic leadership has ensured that WNO remains ambitious and relevant and will continue to do so into the future.’

Lang’s departure comes at a challenging time for the company as Arts Council cuts have seen the Company lose over a third of its original ACE sum, causing the company to shrink its touring reach and prompting arts leaders to publish an open letter voicing their concerns about the ‘the deleterious effects of ACE’s plans’.