When Bill Powers steps in as general director of Pittsburgh Opera this summer, it will mark both a leadership transition and a homecoming. Powers, Ashland Avenue, spent more than a decade at Pittsburgh Opera, before leaving in 2021 to lead the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Powers told Mt. Lebanon Magazine he is “very excited to be appointed and to earn the privilege of guiding the company in its next chapter.”

He will assume the role July 1, succeeding Christopher Hahn, who is retiring after nearly two decades as general director. Hahn is one of the longest-tenured leaders in the company, having also served as the artistic director from 2000 to 2008.

Powers brings a long record of administrative leadership to the role. A graduate of Hamilton College with a BA in music and Fordham University with an MBA in finance, Powers is experienced working for national powerhouses, including: The Juilliard School’s Department of Vocal Arts, The Metropolitan Opera, Berkshire Opera Company, Aspen Music Festival and The Music Academy of the West.

“Bill is uniquely qualified to lead Pittsburgh Opera into the future,” said Pittsburgh Opera Board President Gene Welsh, noting his familiarity with the company, the city and its patrons. Board Chair Michele Fabrizi added that Powers “arrives with instant credibility and goodwill both internally and externally.”

Hahn echoed that sentiment, saying, “There is no one I would rather turn the reins over to than Bill Powers.”

Future of the opera

Pittsburgh Opera’s future under Powers will be shaped by several defining priorities: honoring the company’s legacy and Hahn’s vision, while expanding its reach through collaboration, youth engagement and a broader, more diverse repertoire.

“This has to happen in an incremental and sustainable way,” he said. “The idea is to continue to be creative and curious.”

Powers looks forward to “trying different things out in a way that makes sense,” but, he added, “to make sure that when you do that, you’re challenging the palette of the community. You have to ensure it’s not just catering to their needs, but also stretching them as well.”

Powers said expanded partnerships with other cultural and community organizations will deepen the opera’s regional impact. “The idea is to foster new places where people can experience opera in a collaborative kind of way that addresses uniquely different audiences, but addresses them in a singular way,” Powers said.

Plus, he hopes to capture the attention of online, younger audiences with curated, story-driven content on its digital platforms. Pittsburgh Opera will continue to attract nationally and internationally recognized singers, composers and directors, but Powers emphasized that the majority of the company’s workforce is locally based. He also hopes to commission locally produced works, perhaps focusing on social or community-related issues that will resonate with Pittsburghers.

Powers recalled the 2017 Pittsburgh Opera’s first world premiere with The Summer King, an opera that documented the life of North Side baseball legend and Negro League player Josh Gibson. He described it as “a wonderful project that celebrated a community icon and the richness of Pittsburgh’s history, [while] also using opera as it’s medium.” It is one example of how Pittsburgh Opera can meet the needs of modern audiences.

“As we move ahead, I keep thinking about that portfolio of offerings, that operatic kind of offering,” Power explained. “So people just don’t think it’s Wagner or Verdi or Mozart — they’re spectacular and I love them — but the idea that there’s a richness to be celebrated out there,” through American pieces or musical theatre/opera blends.

The Power(s) couple

At home, opera is both a profession and a shared passion. Powers is married to Sari Gruber, an internationally acclaimed soprano performer and voice professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

“With Sari, my wife, being in the industry as well, for as long as she has as a performer and now as a teacher, you know, this has been our life,” Powers said. “To be in this industry as the two of us have been … it’s a great way to utilize our passion, skill set and fervor for the art form, and to continue to engage the community as we’ve always done.”

Gruber said her husband’s Pittsburgh Opera appointment bodes well for the next generation of singers.

“He has incredible artistic ideas and understanding of the art form, as well as of the human voice. So, as a teacher, it gives me a lot of hope, in that having someone at the helm of a company like Bill is really going to help steward in a new generation of opera singers,” Gruber said.

The couple’s daughter, Katharine, is a Mt. Lebanon High School graduate and currently a sophomore in college. Though she “grew up in the wings of the opera house,” her career ambitions lie in medicine, said Powers.

As Powers prepares his return home to Pittsburgh Opera in a new capacity, he is excited to build on the company’s 87-season legacy and stretch new artistic possibilities.

“Singing is primal. You know, we do it when we’re born, we do it when people pass away, and we do it to celebrate liberation. And of course, we use that primal urge in singing through opera for storytelling. Those fundamental dynamics drive, I think, what opera is.”