“Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Program for Singers has been a centerpiece of our organization since the Company’s founding in 1957 and has helped to launch some of the most illustrious careers in opera,” MacKay said. “Under David Holloway’s very successful term as director for the last 13 years, our Apprentice Program for Singers has flourished, setting an ever higher standard for musical excellence in our productions. Continuing this extraordinary legacy is of paramount importance and we feel incredibly fortunate to have attracted someone of Gayletha Nichols’s national and international stature to become director of the Apprentice Program starting next season. She brings a wealth of invaluable experience to us through her work at the Metropolitan Opera and Houston Opera Studio. We know that she’ll be a wonderful addition to Santa Fe Opera and look forward to welcoming her next summer.”

“An eminent opera professional once said to me, ‘Holloway, you know that you have the best job in opera,’” said David Holloway, current director of the Program. “I couldn’t agree with him more. It is now my honor to pass this position on to Gayletha Nichols, a leading figure in our industry. There is no more-qualified person in opera to fill this position as Director of Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Singers Program. Gayletha’s hobby is ceramics — molding clay. What a wonderful metaphor for what our program does with singers, helping them grow out of their training phase into professional opera singers.”