Anthony Freud OBE is one of the world’s most distinguished opera leaders. He served as General Director, President and CEO of Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2011 to 2024, following earlier appointments as General Director of Houston Grand Opera and Welsh National Opera. Widely recognised for his artistic leadership and commitment to widening access to opera, he has also chaired both Opera America and Opera Europa, the only person to have held both positions. Since 2016, he has taught the University of Chicago course Opera as Idea and as Performance with Professor Martha Nussbaum. Born in London to Hungarian Jewish parents who came to Britain as refugees before and after the Holocaust, he was appointed OBE in 2006 for services to music.