“David Roth, who was credited with taking artistic risks during his nine-year tenure as the general director of the Kentucky Opera, died late Sunday in a car accident in Illinois,” writes Elizabeth Kramer in Monday’s (7/20) Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky). “Roth, 56, was returning from a business trip in Des Moines, Iowa, and from visiting his family in Wisconsin…. Louisville artists and arts leaders said Monday that Roth, who came to Louisville in 2006 from the Fort Worth Opera in Texas, had nurtured artists and brought seldom-seen works to town…. The company is working with Roth’s partner, Bryce Hudson, to plan a musical tribute to Roth.… During his years at the opera, Roth oversaw a reshaping of the administrative staff and the sale of the opera’s previous headquarters … The company moved to the ArtsSpace building on Broadway and merged some positions with the Louisville Orchestra.… He also managed expenses by having a season of three productions performed at the Brown Theatre rather than the Kentucky Center’s Whitney Hall. Roth reported in 2009 that saved the company $150,000 to $200,000 a year.” Composer Daron Hagen, whose Woman in Morocco was staged at Kentucky Opera in May, called Roth’s death “a tremendous loss.”
Posted July 21, 2015
