Pittsburgh Opera taps familiar face to serve as next general director

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Opera has a new leader.

In March of 2025, the longtime General Director Christopher Hahn announced that he would step down at the end of the 2025-26 season after serving in the position since 2008. After a months long national search led by Margaret Genovese of Genovese Vanderhoof & Associates, the Opera has chosen William Powers, who has been executive director of the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra since 2021.

“There is no one I would rather turn the reins over to than Bill Powers,” Hahn said in a prepared statement. “Having worked with him for well over a decade, I have witnessed and benefited from his expertise, judgement and counsel. His work ethic and integrity are second to none.”