The evaluation committee convened to select the Artistic Director at Les Arts from a pool of candidates has concluded its selection process, following the Valencia Culture Best Practice Code.
Each candidate had to present their own project which included their proposed artistic programme together with its management. Part of this included the opera works they would stage for the next two seasons, as well as the main lines of action they would follow up to the end of their contract. Each proposal had to make use of all the different stages available in Les Arts and include an opera, music, choreographic and stage program in all their varieties.
The candidates were also asked to present their plans to ensure that Les Arts is a space for internationalization and operatic excellence and that the use of space is maximised to include the full set of disciplines. This had to include the symphonic programme for the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana, in addition to a proposal to improve the reach of the Centre de Perfeccionament Plácido Domingo as well as a defined project for the technical, teaching and training team.
The candidate who was scored highest by the evaluation committee was Jesús Iglesias Noriega and, therefore, his name will be proposed by the evaluation committee to be put forward to the Valencian Opera Coliseum as Artistic Director of Les Arts, who will then fix the date for him to assume his new role.
The evaluation committee concluded that both Jesús Iglesias Noriega’s track record and his specific programme proposal were the most suitable for the role of Artistic Director at Les Arts, not only due to his specific training, but also to his musical knowledge, international experience and experience in educational projects. Additionally, other qualities that stood out were his ability to adapt to the current artistic model at Les Arts, his capacity for artistic innovation and management, his team leadership capacity, his proven agenda and national and international network in the field of opera, his public relations capacity in the operatic world, and finally his management knowledge and programme financial vision to design financially sustainable content.
Jesús Iglesias Noriega – Career Profile
Director of the Artistic Department of the Duch National Opera & Ballet of the Netherlands, he was also Artistic Coordinator of the Teatro Real in Madrid between 2002 and 2012, as well as the assistant to the Artistic and Musical Director at the Teatro Real between 1997 and 2001. Previously he worked in the Artistic Director’s team at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires.
Jesús Iglesias Noriega (Gijón, 1971) holds a master’s degree in Cultural Management of Music, Theatre and Dance from the Complutense University of Madrid and is a former piano teacher at the Oviedo Conservatory of Music and Dance. In addition, he has a degree in Economics and Business Studies from the University of Oviedo.
He has taken part in several seminars on opera, management and lyric production as well as artistic management in the opera world. He has been a juror for a number of different operatic competitions throughout Europe.
Members of the valuation commission
It should be remembered that the Les Arts Foundation determined the make-up of the evaluation committee for the different candidates. This commission was made up of 9 members, as determined by the Valencia Culture Code of Best Practice. The committee was made up of three institutional representatives: three experts each from the worlds of song and culture and three from civil society.
With regards to the world of song and culture, the members of the committee were Christina Scheppelmann, Artistic Director of the Liceo in Barcelona; Joan Matabosch, Artistic Director of the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Ana Luisa Chova, professor of Singing at the Valencia Conservatory of Music.
The representatives from civil society were Pablo Font de Mora, president of the Friends of the Les Arts Opera of the Valencian Community, Ramon Roselló, from the Valencian Department of Culture, and Vicent Ros, director of the Palau de la Música in Valencia.
Susana Lloret, president of the Board of Les Arts, Marga Landete, Deputy Director of Music and Popular Culture at the IVC, and José Villar, undersecretary of the Regional Ministry of Education, Research, Culture and Sports, made up the institutional representation of the evaluation commission.
Details of the contract
The person appointed to fill the position will sign a senior management contract, which will last for 4 years, renewable for a further 4, following a review of their performance.
Gross annual remuneration for the role will be between 120,000 and 135,000 euros, depending on the exact assigned functions.
