The cabinet of the French government confirmed on Wednesday that Canadian Opera Company general director Alexander Neef will be taking over as the head of Opéra de Paris at the start of the 2021-22 season.

Rumours had been floating for about a year concerning the future of the German-born arts administrator who took over the COC in June 2008.

The COC denied that Neef was going to Paris as recently as two weeks ago, but confirmed on Wednesday that he will be leaving at the end of the 2020-2021 season.

Neef’s 11 years have been a mix of successes as well as disappointments. The official news releases focused on the positive, stating how Neef helped raise the COC to international status in the quality of its vocal casting and productions.

Neef had worked alongside renowned Belgian opera administrator Gérard Mortier as casting director from 2004 to 2008 at Opéra de Paris while Mortier was running the company. The COC boss has long had an interest in following the best emerging singers — and brought a number of younger international opera stars to the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

But this is no different from the work of Neef’s predecessors Lotfi Mansouri, Brian Dickie and Richard Bradshaw. The latter’s single-minded determination to put Toronto on the world’s opera map spurred the construction of the new opera house, which Bradshaw opened to great critical acclaim in 2006.

Neef’s finest accomplishment in Toronto was in championing Canadian voices in production after production. He gave Canadian artists mainstage opportunities they would usually find in Europe or the United States.

“Canada is rich with artistic talent and I could not have asked for a better place in which to create, to innovate, and to collaborate in the true spirit of opera as an art form,” Neef said in a statement on Wednesday.

He oversaw the premiere of Robert Lepage’s multi-disciplinary production of The Nightingale and Other Fables in 2009, but Canadian originals were few and far between. The most recent premiere was a lavish production last season of Rufus Wainwright and Daniel MacIvor’s Hadrian, which received mixed reviews.

There will not be any Canadian opera presented during this upcoming COC season, but there are two commissions in the works for future years. The 2020-21 season, Neef’s last, has not been revealed.

When the Four Seasons Centre opened in 2006, most performances were sold out or close. Opera was the hottest ticket in town. But Neef’s tenure saw a slow but steady decline in box office revenue.

In a way, this mirrors recent trends in the performing arts, but the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has been able to grow its audiences while the COC has faltered.

Neef originally oversaw an expansion of the company’s season from seven to eight productions in 2011-12, but had to cut back the following year. The COC cut its season to six productions in 2015-16.

Although the COC’s finances are sound, the revenue from ticket sales during the 2018-19 season was less than the money brought in from the underground parking lot and food and beverage concessions in the lobby.

Throughout Neef’s tenure, the COC continued to champion its community-outreach efforts, from free daytime concerts at the Four Seasons Centre to school shows. It opened its production facilities on Front St. E. to experimental producers last year.

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Opera is an expensive, risky business regardless of where it is being presented. As the incoming general director of Opéra de Paris, Neef returns back to a system where the state generously supports culture, including the performing arts.

The COC faces a big challenge in finding a person with Neef’s discipline who can also thrive in a country and province where governments do not necessarily prioritize culture, and where patrons have multiple demands on their disposable income.

JT Classical music writer John Terauds is a freelance contributor for the Star, based in Toronto. He is supported by the Rubin Institute for Music Criticism, San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation. Follow him on Twitter @JohnTerauds

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