Kriha Dye has been named the new president and chief executive officer of Virginia Opera. She will assume the post on Oct. 18, succeeding Russell P. Allen.
A 50-year-old graduate of Saint Cloud State University in Minnesota, the Manhattan School of Music and the Juilliard Opera Center, Dye was a prominent operatic soprano earlier in her career. She sang the role of Stella in the 1998 premiere production of André Previn’s “A Streetcar Named Desire” at the San Francisco Opera, Musetta in productions of Puccini’s “La Bohème” in San Francisco, Shanghai and elsewhere, and other roles in more than 40 productions between 1992 and 2017.
Dye joined the staff of Opera Columbus in Ohio in 2011, serving in several administrative roles before becoming the company’s general and artistic director and CEO in 2017. She is a member of the board of trustees of Opera America, and is active in the Women’s Opera Network.
She joins Virginia Opera as the company prepares to mount its 50th anniversary season while facing the artistic and financial consequences of the coronavirus pandemic. “[A]s the challenges for the performing arts we love and hold so close continue in the months ahead . . . I know we will meet and prevail in those challenges,” Dye said in a statement issued on her appointment.
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