Toledo Opera Executive Director Suzanne Rorick will retire upon the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year, on May 31, 2024. Co-Artistic Directors James M. Norman and Kevin Bylsma will succeed her as General Director and Artistic Director respectively.
For Rorick, her work at Toledo Opera has been a long labor of love, inspired by the importance of classical music and her love for the community. “After nearly thirty years of working in the non-profit culture sector, and leading Toledo Opera for over a decade, I still believe that the arts have a role to play. Opera takes us on a journey outside of ourselves. By bringing us together, and inviting us to immerse ourselves in its powerful storytelling together, opera can expand our collective imagination in ways that endure long after we leave the theater. I am so grateful to the people of Toledo Opera and the greater Toledo community for being a part of the common project of building a thriving, equitable, and inclusive company,” shared Rorick.
“Toledo Opera has been blessed with Suzanne’s leadership for over a decade,” shared Toledo Opera Board President Barbara Oostra. “Her vision, creativity, and passion have allowed Toledo Opera to prosper during her tenure. We thank her for our success and wish her all the best in her retirement.”
Suzanne Rorick has been working in the nonprofit sector in Toledo for over 25 years, first joining the staff of Toledo Opera in 2001 as the Director of Development – a role she served in for a decade. Rorick was named Executive Director in 2011, making her the fifth chief executive in the company’s 65-year history. She has now served in this position for twelve years.
Maintaining a high-quality professional opera company that is financially stable is a challenge for opera directors in cities both large and small. Operating one a $1.5 million budget with a small staff is a high-wire act that Rorick has excelled at over the last twelve years. Starting with a financial and board crisis in 2011, followed by quick stabilization and then a grand comeback that continues today, Rorick has been an unfailing strategic and fearless leader.
During her tenure, Toledo Opera has operated under a set of principles known as “Sound Vision.” With “Sound Vision,” Rorick has established a culture where it is the norm to achieve the highest artistic standards while maintaining sound fiscal management. Toledo Opera now enjoys tremendous success, with sold-out houses, productions of the highest quality, exceptional education programs, and a growing community of subscribers and donors. Under Rorick’s stewardship, Toledo Opera has come to embody her vision of an opera company that cultivates artistic talent at a number of levels. With Rorick as its Executive Director, Toledo Opera is a regional company that has a deeper programmatic vision: integrating the meaning and power of opera into the community and nourishing the artform itself through its artists.
Ms. Rorick is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University. She completed a Certificate in Fund Raising Management form the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University in 2010 and maintains the industry certification in fundraising, CFRE credential. In November 2015 Suzanne was named Professional Fundraiser of the Year by the Northwest Ohio Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) of which she is a member. In 2021 she was honored for her outstanding contributions in the Arts with a YWCA Milestone Award.
For more information about Toledo Opera please visit toledoopera.org. For media access, please contact Rachael Cammarn at rcammarn@toledoopera.org.
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