State Opera of South Australia to conduct review after CEO and artistic director Tim Sexton resigns

STATE Opera of South Australia will hold a major review of its operations before appointing a replacement for its chief executive and artistic director Timothy Sexton, who resigned on Friday.

State Opera of South Australia CEO and artistic director Timothy Sexton has resigned.

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STATE Opera will hold a major review of its operations before appointing a replacement for its chief executive and artistic director Timothy Sexton, after his shock resignation on Friday.

The company has sought assistance from federal funding body the Australia Council for the Arts to bring forward the review, which was already planned before Mr Sexton’s departure.

Its chairman John Irving, who owns business advisory company Dundee Bay Consulting, will take on the executive role and work from State Opera’s headquarters at Netley as an interim arrangement.

Mr Irving said Mr Sexton had resigned for “personal reasons’’.

“Tim and I spoke at length last week and his view was that he needed to resign to deal with them,’’ Mr Irving said.

“It was nothing to do with the opera company, it was personal. It’s unfortunate for the company … but we will move on.’’

Both Mr Sexton, who had been at State Opera since 2011, and his predecessor Stephen Phillips, were in charge of both the company’s administration and artistic management.

“Tim and I had already spoken at length and the board had discussed and agreed, in fact, that we would undertake a review of our management structure,’’ Mr Irving said.

“Not because anyone was dissatisfied with it, but it’s always an appropriate thing when a new chair comes in to have a look at those things.’’

Mr Irving said he had already contacted the Australia Council to seek advice on who could conduct the review, and how soon.

“It was entirely unconnected to Tim leaving but it is going to be a useful coincidence because …. that will give us a strong direction to take the company in, in terms of how we structure the management group.’’

The Australia Council’s national Opera Review had found that State Opera was “not as good as we could be in terms of our fundraising capacities and a few other areas’’.

“We’ll certainly be looking at that and seeing whether or not, in replacing Tim, we can add some strength in those areas,’’ Mr Irving said.

Mr Sexton, who had previously been reappointed to continue for another term from July this year, could not be contacted for further comment.

The rest of this year’s State Opera performances — which were restricted by construction work at the Adelaide Festival Centre — would continue as planned and Mr Irving said much of the company’s program for next year was already in place.