Kostis Protopapas - Artistic Director

Greek conductor Kostis Protopapas joined the artistic staff of Tulsa Opera in 2001. His conducting credits with the company include productions of Carmen, Cavalleria Rusticana/I Pagliacci and Le Nozze di Figaro, and student matinee performances of The Cunning Little Vixen and La Bohème. He will conduct The Magic Flute in April 2008.

Protopapas has also served as Assistant Conductor for the Los Angeles Opera since 2004, where he regularly collaborates with Music Director James Conlon and General Director Placido Domingo. Protopapas has previously been an assistant conductor at Lyric Opera of Chicago and Santa Fe Opera, were he worked side by side with such conductors as Bruno Bartoletti, Sir Andrew Davis and Alan Gilbert. During the 2002 and 2003 seasons he was the assistant chorusmaster at Lyric Opera, under the legendary Donald Palumbo. 

Protopapas has served on the music staffs of Opera Memphis and Virginia Opera; he conducted at Opera in the Ozarks every summer from 2000 to 2004 and has conducted for Da Corneto Opera in Chicago. Last summer he conducted Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi for Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis, and will be returning there summer 2008 to conduct Otello.

Born in Athens, Protopapas studied Archaeology and History of Art at the University of Athens. He came to the United States in 1993, on an Onassis Foundation scholarship, to study piano at The Boston Conservatory and conducting at Boston University. He lives in Chicago, with his wife, soprano and stage director Cathleen Dunn, and their two cats, Gus and July.