David Speers

David Speers has been the General Director of Opera Hamilton since 2004. His previous positions include ten years as the General and Artistic Director of the Calgary Opera and five years in the same role with the Arizona Opera.

Mr. Speers is widely recognized for his ability to identify and willingness to promote young talent, and for his skill in assembling strong ensemble casts. Over three decades he has worked with most of this country’s successful operatic artists, as well as a long list of international stars from Cecilia Bartoli, Leontyne Price and Dame Kiri Te Kanawa to Samuel Ramey, Jose Carreras and James Morris.

At the podium, David Speers has conducted more than 60 opera productions and made numerous appearances with symphony orchestras throughout Canada and the U.S. Highlights include Rigoletto with Edmonton Opera and Manitoba Opera, Manon Lescaut, La boheme, La traviata, Il trovatore, Romeo et Juliette, Hansel and Gretel, Les pecheurs des perles, and Carmen with Calgary Opera, Kurt Weill’s Knickerbocker’s Holiday with Toronto Operetta Theatre, Il barbiere di Siviglia with Edmonton Opera, Calgary Opera and Opera East, and Die Schone Galatea and Cherubini’s L’hosteria Portogese for Victoria’s Opera Piccola.

For Opera Hamilton, Mr. Speers has conducted Romeo et Juliette, The Magic Flute, and a new production of Il Trovatore in 2011–12 with long time friend and colleague tenor Richard Margison. He has also led Opera Hamilton’s signature Gala POPERA on four different occasions. In the 2012–13 season he conducted Rigoletto with Welsh baritone Jason Howard and Canadian soprano Simone Osborne, and will open the 2013–14 season leading a new production of Verdi’s Falstaff with John Fanning in the title role.

David Speers resides in Ancaster, Ontario with his wife and their two children.