Mansouri to Head San Francisco Opera

Lotfi Mansouri, head of the Canadian Opera in Toronto, will become the new general director of the San Francisco Opera, it was announced Friday. Mansouri, 58, had been a leading candidate for the position since the resignation of Terence McEwen last month.

The job was offered to Mansouri on Tuesday, after Los Angeles Philharmonic executive director Ernest Fleischmann withdrew his name from consideration. The Iranian-born Mansouri has a working relationship with the Bay Area company going back 25 years.