James Meena

Maestro James Meena consistently earns critical acclaim for his artistic vision, executive leadership and dynamic presence on the podium.

Artistic Achievement

Maestro Meena has held principal and resident conducting posts with the Cleveland Ballet, Toledo Symphony, Opera Carolina, Opera Grand Rapids and Toledo Opera, in addition to guest conducting appearances that include a nationally televised Thanksgiving concert for the Korean Broadcasting System Symphony; performances of Stravinsky’s tour de force La Sacre du printemps with the National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan; concerts with the Cairo Symphony Orchestra in the new Cairo Opera House; and symphony concerts with the orchestras of the Teatro Massimo Bellini in Catania, the Orchestra Regionale Toscana in Italy, the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Memphis Symphony, the Mexico City Philharmonic, the Orlando Symphony, the National Symphony R.O.C (Taiwan), the Pittsburgh Symphony, the KBS Symphony (Seoul) and the Toledo Symphony. As Resident Conductor of the Toledo Symphony, he conducted Classics, Mainly Mozart, Chamber concerts, Community programs and Pops concerts.

In the field of grand opera, he has been engaged as guest conductor with Arizona Opera, Edmonton Opera, the National Arts Center Ottawa, Manitoba Opera, NYCity Opera, Opera Pacific, l’Opera de Montreal, Pittsburgh Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Pacific, Sarasota Opera, Utah Opera, and the Washington Opera and his home companies in Charlotte, Toledo and Grand Rapids.

 Recent engagements include the new production of Die Zauberflöte for which he serves as co-producer and conductor with the theaters in Lake Como, Brescia, Pavia and Cremona Italy, performances of Turandot in the Teatro Antiche Taormina and Teatro Greco Siracusa, Tosca at the Luglio Musicale Trapanese in Sicilia, a double-bill of Rachmaninoff’s rarely-performed Aleko paired with Pagliacci as well as La fanciulla del West, both with New York City Opera; Le nozze di Figaro for Teatro Sociale Rovigo Italy, La Fanciulla del West for five prestigious Italian theaters: Teatro del Giglio, Lucca Italy, Teatro Verdi in Pisa, Teatro Alighieri di Ravenna, Teatro Pavarotti di Modena and Teatro Goldoni di Livorno, plus a Gala concert with Renee Fleming and the Toledo Symphony Orchestra; La bohème with Opéra de Montréal, and Masterworks Concerts with the Memphis Symphony Orchestra.

For Manitoba Opera, he conducted the world première of Transit of Venus by the Canadian team of composer Victor Davies and librettist Maureen Hunter, which was recorded for national broadcast on the CBC. His Opera Carolina performances of Faust, Eugene Onegin, and Il trovatore are captured on recording for NPR World of Opera.

Mo. Meena was the lead producer and music director for Douglas Tappin’s I Dream, a new work created in 2018 for the 50^th commemoration of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. For the project, he raised more than $3.5mil.

Visionary Leader

In his 25-year tenure with Opera Carolina, he has elevated the company’s performance standards to those of a major regional theater, expanded the education department by 100-fold, and, in the face of corporate funding cutbacks, expanded Opera Carolina’s major donor organization, The Verdi Society from a handful of members to more than 150.

Early in his career in Charlotte, he established the company’s first Endowment, which today boasts assets of more than $3.5 million, as well as increasing the annual budget from $1.2 million to $3.8 million.  He successfully led the organization through both the 2009 financial crisis and the 2019 pandemic, maintaining high performance standards and working with the Board and Opera Guild leadership to align the company’s business model to changing times.

In response to the financial crisis, he led the initiative to create the company’s first program to take the organization into the community.  His Civic Engagement Through the Arts initiative has brought new audiences and patrons to Opera Carolina through programs like the Art*Poetry*Music series that celebrates diverse cultures through visual, spoken word, vocal, and instrumental music. The annual APM concert honoring the legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a highly anticipated event in Greater Charlotte.  In response to the pandemic, several new community programs were created, which continue post-pandemic, including Music Under the Stars, PopUp Opera, Opera Dinners, Family Opera performances, and his digital opera-introductory series Overtures. 

To staff these diverse programs, Mo. Meena created the company’s first Resident Company in 2022. Divided in three cohorts of Greater Charlotte resident singers and musicians, the ResCo is a fully functioning mentor program that provides opportunities for emerging artists living in Greater Charlotte to work with the music staff, participate in Master Classes, and perform in the community and on the Grand Opera stage.  For the 2024/25 season, 26 of the 33 principal and featured roles on the Grand Opera stage are performed by ResCo members, including Rodolfo, Mimi, Don Jose, Musett,a and more.

Commitment to Excellence

Among the opera productions created for Opera Carolina, Maestro Meena highlights the following new and unusual works:

New Large-scale works produced

2001                 Susannah by Carlisle Floyd – Charlotte premiere. Belk Theater.

2003                 Cold Sassy Tree by Carlisle Floyd – world premiere created in partnership with Houston Grand Opera, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Seattle Opera. Belk Theater.

2007                 Margaret Garner – world premiere created in partnership with Detroit, Cincinnati and Philadelphia. Belk Theater.

2009                 The Transit of Venus – US premiere (canceled due to the 2009 recession).

2017                  Cyrano de Bergerac – new work by David di Chiera – Charlotte premiere.

2018                 I Dream – premiere created in partnership with Opera Grand Rapids and Toledo Opera, performed at the Knight Theater.

2021                  I Dream – revised version. Belk Theater.

New Small-scale works produced

2012                  Rise for Freedom – presented in partnership with JCSU and performed in various Greater Charlotte venues.

2015                  Noye’s Fludde – created in partnership with St. Peter’s Choir School.

2019                 Scalia/Ginsberg – created in partnership with Opera Grand Rapids.

2021                  The Falling and the Rising – new production created exclusively for Opera Carolina.

2023                 The House of Orfeus – House Music opera previewed at the Booth Playhouse.

2024                 The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson – Charlotte premiere with Denyce Graves.

Plus Charlotte Premieres

• Aleko, Rachmaninov
• Der Rosenkavalier, Strauss
• Eugene Onegin, Tchaikovsky
• Fidelio, Beethoven
• Il Trittico (complete), Puccini
• La fanciulla del West (The Girl of the West), Puccini
• La Vida Breve, de Falla

James Meena is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and Baldwin Wallace College Conservatory of Music.  His principal conducting teachers include Thomas Michalak (New Jersey Symphony), Robert Page (Cleveland Orchestra), Rudolph Fellner (Pittsburgh Opera), and Boris Halip (Bolshoi Ballet), with whom he also studied violin. He has served as Assistant Conductor to Andre Previn, Gunther Schuller, Michael Tilson Thomas, Anton Guadagno, and Anton Coppola. For several seasons, he was Associate Conductor of the Pittsburgh Opera, where he made his operatic début conducting Die Zauberflöte.

He made his professional début with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducting Haydn’s monumental oratorio The Creation. Mo. Meena was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award by his undergraduate alma mater in 1997 for his commitment to visionary excellence and growth of cultural institutions.

Recordings on https://jamesmeena.com feature an array of symphonic and opera performances.