Ky Opera's Roth recalled as artistic risk-taker - The Courier-Journal
David Roth, who was credited with taking artistic risks during his nine-year tenure as the general director of the Kentucky Opera, died late Sunday in a car accident in Illinois. An Illinois State Police report indicated Roth, who was wearing a seat belt, was traveling east on Interstate 74 in Piatt County in central Illinois about 9 p. m. when his Hyundai Elantra ran off the road, struck a ditch, became airborne and hit a... Louisville artists and arts leaders said Monday that Roth, who came to Louisville in 2006 from the Fort Worth Opera in Texas, had nurtured artists and brought seldom-seen works to town. “He was part of the next generation of artistic and executive directors who are reinventing opera in the United States,” said composer Daron Hagen, whose “Woman in Morocco” was performed by Kentucky Opera in May. Conductor Joseph Mechavich, who met Roth in 1993 with the Minnesota Opera, came to work in Louisville after Roth’s appointment. “It’s meant so much to me to work with him, collaborate and having him introduce me to an opera family in Louisville,” Mechavich said. He counted the 2009 production of Carlisle Floyd’s opera “Of Mice and Men,” based on John Steinbeck’s novel, as one of the high achievements of working with Roth at the Kentucky Opera. Source: www.courier-journal.com
