Former Met Official to Fill DiChiera’s Position

Patrick L. Veitch, 52, a former director of marketing for the Metropolitan Opera in New York, has been named general director and chief executive officer of Opera Pacific, effective immediately, the company announced Monday.

Founder David DiChiera, 61, will continue as artistic director of the 10-year-old company, which stages operas at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa. Most of DiChiera’s time, however, will be spent running the Michigan Opera Theatre, which he founded in 1971 in Detroit, and the Detroit Opera House, which opened in April.

Opera Pacific’s management team also will include Lori A. Burrill, who will continue as managing director.

Board President Thomas T. Hammond said Monday that Veitch will have ultimate decision-making authority for artistic and fiscal matters. But Veitch said he envisions the team operating as “a troika.”

“My responsibilities,” the Texas native said, “are to keep the whole thing balanced.”

Opera Pacific operates on an annual budget of $5.5 million. Veitch is walking into a deficit of about $700,000.

He said money “is right at the top” of his list of concerns. His short-term goal will be to increase the company’s annual fund-raising by “a half-million dollars--and in sustainable money.” His longer-term goal is to keep building on that.

“I have a singularity of purpose here, which is to build opera in Orange County,” he said. “I don’t think you will see radical changes. Artistic ventures have to evolve.”

The troupe has concentrated on mainstream repertoire, and Veitch said that over time he would “like to see more diverse repertoire. [But] at the heart of more diverse repertoire is money.”

Veitch worked for the Met from 1976 to 1981. Since then he has been general director of the Australian Opera in Sydney (1981-89) and president of Pennsylvania Ballet (1989-91). For the last five years he has worked from his home in Beverly Hills as an independent consultant to nonprofit organizations.

The divorced father of two daughters, 16-year-old Alexandra and 18-year-old Francesca, will move to Orange County to assume his new full-time post.