Allan E. Naplan

Allan E. Naplan became the General Director of the Madison Opera in June 2005. Prior to this appointment, Naplan served as the Director of Artistic Administration for the Pittsburgh Opera. In this capacity, Naplan oversaw casting and artistic planning for the mainstage company, as well as for the Pittsburgh Opera Center, the company's distinguished young artist training program. In addition to these responsibilities, in the fall of 2002, Naplan became the original producer and host of the popular "Pittsburgh Opera Preview" radio program. Through an informative and light-hearted manner, Naplan introduced the operatic art form to thousands of listeners from across Western Pennsylvania.

A proponent of making opera accessible to diverse audiences, in 2004 Naplan created the program, "POPERA, Opera as seen and heard through America's Pop culture", which he frequently presents to groups around the country. Prior to his appointment in Pittsburgh, Naplan served as the Assistant Artistic Administrator of the Houston Grand Opera. He also previously held administrative positions with the Neubert Ballet of New York and the Richard Tucker Music Foundation. A former professional opera singer, Naplan's active performing career included engagements with the opera companies of Cincinnati, Santa Fe, Boston, Virginia, Sarasota, Nashville, and Tulsa, among others.

For the opera industry's national service organization, Opera America, Naplan has served as a clinician and seminar panelist on issues ranging from young artist singer training to the use of media-based marketing for audience development. He has also authored a number of articles for the organization's publications. An award winning composer published by Boosey & Hawkes, Shawnee Press, Silver Burdett-Ginn, Transcontinental Music, and Colla Voce Music, Naplan's choral works have been performed and recorded in over thirty countries worldwide, and have been featured in concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, The White House, as well as in the Academy Award nominated documentary, Sing!. Known especially for his choral repertoire for children's choirs, Naplan's 2001 work, An American Anthem, was chosen as the inaugural wake-up song for the NASA astronauts on Space Shuttle Columbia Mission STS-107, and has since gone on to be performed by choruses and symphony orchestras around the country. Recent composing credits for Naplan included his serving as the 2005 Composer in Residence for the Disney World Children in Harmony Festival, where his newest work, Let Me Know Beauty, received its world premiere.

Naplan holds degrees in vocal performance and music education from the Ithaca College School of Music, where he was recently honored as the College's 2004 "Distinguished Young Alumni Award" recipient. Naplan is originally from Marblehead, Massachusetts.