Detroit Opera will have new CEO in 2024, a longtime arts executive

Detroit Opera has announced that Patty Isacson Sabee will become the organization’s next president and CEO, only the third since the outfit was founded in 1971 by the late David DiChiera. Outgoing leader Wayne S. Brown, who has led the company since 2014, announced his retirement last spring.

Sabee (pronounced “Say-bee”), who has a long history as an executive in the arts nonprofit world, will take over the position in January. She’ll set up shop in Detroit after closing out a six-year run as founding executive director of Washington, D.C.’s Planet Word. Prior to that, she spent a decade with Seattle’s MoPOP Museum of Pop Culture and 21 years with the Seattle Symphony.

“The Seattle Symphony was an orchestra that performed for the opera, the ballet and the symphony at the same time,” Sabee told the Free Press. “We shared offices together. Our musicians performed the complete Wagner Ring Cycle and each opera season. We jointly negotiated with the stage crew. We had to work closely together on repertoire decisions because it affected orchestra size for both organizations. So I have been involved with opera. I am deeply steeped in classical music, symphony, opera and contemporary music.”

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Brown himself had enthusiastic sentiments on Sabee’s appointment.

“I am thrilled to welcome Patty Isacson Sabee as my successor,” Brown said. “She is a highly respected leader with a remarkable track record, and I cannot imagine a better outcome of the search process for our organization and community.”

Sabee had high praise for Detroit Opera’s creative team.

“Detroit Opera has caught the attention of the world,” she said. “The incredible artistic team — (artistic director) Yuval Sharon, (associate artistic director) Christine Goerke and (music director) Roberto Kalb — what they’ve brought in terms of their international activity and renown and experience to their work here to put opera in all kinds of new settings, new contexts, new ways to reach out and engage with audience, new ways of exploring the form itself, is amazing.”

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Sharon returned the admiration in a written statement.

“I couldn’t be happier that the board has chosen Patty as Detroit Opera’s new president and CEO,” Sharon said. “Beyond her proven managerial expertise and her demonstrated love of opera, Patty has a clear-eyed vision for sustainability and community engagement, and she knows how to support artists in their pursuits of extraordinary work. She is the perfect person to take on the mantle from David DiChiera and Wayne Brown — both of whom have shown a tireless commitment to cultivating opera throughout the region. Detroit Opera is in good hands!”

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Contact Free Press arts and culture reporter Duante Beddingfield at dbeddingfield@freepress.com.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Opera names Patty Isacson Sabee third ever CEO