James Barbato is the newly appointed General Director of Palm Beach Opera. He was promoted into this role after several seasons as the company’s Director of Artistic Administration, with responsibility for casting and artistic planning as well as direction of PBO’s acclaimed resident artist programs. His tenure at PBO has been noted for the high standards of the company’s productions, beginning with his pioneering creation of the company’s outdoor festival in 2021, when he developed innovative safety protocols and recruited a roster of top-tier stars to become one of the first companies in the United States to produce a full season of live opera during the pandemic. He has also been instrumental in establishing PBO as a leading training center in the industry, building a renowned faculty and helping to launch the careers of many of opera’s most promising emerging talents, including three National Grand Finals winners of the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition. Previously, he spent four seasons with Santa Fe Opera as Assistant Director of the Rehearsal Department. An alumnus of OPERA America’s Leadership Intensive program, he began his career as a singer, earning his BM and MM degrees from the Eastman School of Music and continuing his training at the Boston University Opera Institute, performing most notably with Florida Grand Opera, Central City Opera, Tanglewood Music Center, and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. In addition to his musical training, he is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Rochester, having earned a BA summa cum laude in Economics.