Matthew Jocelyn (photo by Cybèle Young)
Theatre and opera director Matthew Jocelyn has been appointed as the next general director of the Koffler Centre of the Arts in Toronto, a Jewish cultural organization that presents exhibitions, performances and literary events.
He starts immediately as general director designate, working with interim director Anthony Sargent, and will assume the full role Oct. 2.
Jocelyn said he looks forward to supporting the Koffler's new artistic mission – developing a "global-thinking creative nexus, imbued with deep humanist values and true artistic mettle."
Helen Burstyn, the Koffler board's chair, called Jocelyn a "spectacularly accomplished and visionary leader," while Sargent praised his "formidable intellectual depth" and "omnivorous cultural interests."
Most recently, Jocelyn was the artistic and general director of Canadian Stage, a leading non-profit theatre company in Toronto.
A former Rhodes Scholar, Jocelyn spent almost three decades working in the French cultural milieu in a variety of administrative and teaching posts. In 2008, he was named Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by France's culture minister.
As an opera librettist, his work has been produced at venues around the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York. In 2016, Maclean's magazine called him "one of this country's most brilliant creative forces – and one of its most controversial."
Source: Koffler Centre of the Arts