Courtesy Fort Worth Opera
A 2015 Fort Worth Opera performance with Joe Illick as the conductor.
The Fort Worth Opera announces a bittersweet yet exciting change in its 75-year history by naming Maestro Joe Illick the company’s first music director emeritus.
Illick, who has risen through the ranks at Fort Worth Opera — first as music director then as artistic director — will now fill the role of music director emeritus. This role is the first of its kind at the oldest opera in Texas.
“After 20 wonderful years with Fort Worth Opera … it’s time for me to enter a new phase of my artistic career,” Illick says. “The company is now in the right hands, under the leadership of Afton Battle ... This will allow me to continue to be a part of Fort Worth Opera, a company and a community that is near and dear to my heart.”
The Fort Worth Opera will premiere “Stand Up!,” one of Illick’s compositions, Nov. 11. According to a press release, the socially-conscious opera, presented by the Lesley Resident Artists, will give audiences a snapshot of the life of South African activist Stephen Biko during the 1960s Apartheid and segue into a similar story of a racially-divided college campus in Texas.
“Racial injustice and inequality take lives, divide communities, and deny millions of people their own humanity. But how can we stop them?” asks Illick. “In this chamber opera, we offer an answer, both from recent history and right now. The world is one family. Stand up for what you believe in.”
In addition to these changes, current chorus master Alfrelynn Roberts transitions to director of artistic operations. The company has also appointed three new trustees to the board: Susie Olmos-Soto, Judy Bennett Garner, and Randy Sabbagh.
“We have been so lucky to have Joe Illick with us for so many years, and we look forward to his
continued involvement with the company in his new role,” board chair, Ryan Krause, says. “And in Afton Battle, we have a dynamic leader who is ready and excited to take Fort Worth Opera to new heights.”