Priti Gandhi

Priti Gandhi, Artistic Director of Portland Opera, joined the company in the fall of 2021 as an artistic and strategic leader, as part of a new collaborative leadership team structure for the company. Her role leads the discussions for season planning, casting, developing the Portland Opera Young Artist program, and directing the artistic department, which includes oversight of the company’s community engagement and educational programs. Previous to her post in Portland, she was Vice President of Artistic at Minnesota Opera, where she advised on topics related to company programming, casting, and commissions related to the New Works Initiative. She also created new processes for company-wide conversations regarding diversity in traditional narratives and casting–most notably, exploring the growing discussion of the relevance of the operatic canon in the evolving lens of today–and has become a frequent contributor to panels, podcasts, and published articles regarding the ongoing dialogue of new perspectives in industry-wide EDI work. She is also passionate about connecting to singers regarding career paths and resources, as well as creating more compassionate and inclusive spaces for artists in the industry–speaking on panels with Opera America, National Endowment for the Arts, The Women’s Opera Network (OA), and various opera companies throughout the region. In addition to her work in Minnesota, Ms. Gandhi initially served as artistic administrator of San Diego Opera, where she oversaw all artistic contracting and management. In her long performance career, she appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Opera, Seattle Opera, Théâtre du Châtelet, the Royal Opera House, Prague Estates Theatre, New York City Opera, Philadelphia Orchestra, and San Francisco Opera, among others. Ms. Gandhi graduated with a bachelor of arts in communications and a minor in theatre from the University of California, San Diego, has served as a published weekly columnist with The San Diego Union-Tribune, and was an honored alumna and commencement speaker at UCSD in 2016. An alumna of young artist programs at Cleveland Opera and San Diego Opera, Gandhi is also an amateur painter and flamenco dancer.