Karayanis, Plato

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Karayanis, Plato

Karayanis, Plato, American opera administrator; b. Pittsburgh, Dec. 26, 1928. He studied voice at Carnegie-Mellon Univ. in Pittsburgh, opera at the Curtis Inst, of Music in Philadelphia, and opera administration and production technology at the Hamburg State Opera. After singing baritone roles and working as a stage director in Europe, he was made head of the rehearsal dept. at the San Francisco Opera in 1964. From 1965 to 1967 he was asst. stage director and company administrator of the Metropolitan Opera National Co. In 1967 he joined Affiliate Artists, Inc., where he later was executive vice- president. In 1977 he became general director of the Dallas Opera, where his tenure saw the expansion of both the traditional and contemporary repertoires. From 1993 to 1997 he also was president of the board of directors of OPERA America, Inc.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire