October 2010, with an initial contract of three years. However, in August 2012, Chaslin resigned as the Opera's chief conductor. In April 2013, the company announced simultaneously the appointments of Harry Bicket as its next chief conductor, effective 1 October 2013, and of Montgomery as conductor laureate for the 2013 season. In November 2016, the company announced the extension of Bicket's contract as chief conductor through 30 September 2020. In February 2018, the company announced the appointments of Robert K. Meya as its next general director and of Alexander Neef as its first-ever artistic director, and the elevation of Harry Bicket from chief conductor of the company to its music director, with three appointments effective as of 1 October 2018. In October 2018, the company announced the extension of Bicket's contract as music director through the 2023 season. Neef stood down as artistic director in 2021, following his appointment to the Opéra national de Paris. In February 2021, the company announced the appointment of David Lomelí to its newly created post of chief artistic officer, a combination of the past posts of artistic director and director of artistic administration, effective 1 May 2021. Programming and organizational philosophy From the beginning, certain characteristics of what was to become a typical season emerged. It runs annually from late June or the beginning of July to the third week of August, with five operas presented in rotating repertory. Generally, from the time of Crosby's inception of the company, two popular operas opened the season. An American (or world) premiere was generally in the program and these included works commissioned by the company. A lifelong lover of the operas of Richard Strauss, Crosby regularly scheduled one and presented many American premieres of the composer’s work, an example being the 1964 U.S. premiere of the 1938 Daphne. Finally, the fifth opera was often a rarely performed work. The same philosophy continues to the present day. For modern works, US premiere productions of contemporary operas include Thomas Adès' The Tempest (2006), Tan Dun's Tea: A Mirror of Soul, Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Mater, the July 2009 world premiere of The Letter, by composer Paul Moravec and librettist Terry Teachout, and the first full production of Lewis Spratlan's Life Is a Dream in July 2010. World premieres have included Theodore Morrison's Oscar (2013), Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain (2015)., and Mason Bates' and Mark Campbell's The (R)evolution of Steve