^{Since Brian Dickie’s appointment as General Director in 1999, COT has become a company of international renown and following. His first season with COT in 2000 was met with such acclaim that he was honored by the Chicago Tribune as a “Chicagoan of the Year”—the paper declared that Brian “clearly recognized the organization’s growth potential amid an increasingly sophisticated Chicago arts scene.” This honor was repeated in 2002. In 2009 he was named by New City Chicago as one of “The Players—50 people who really perform for Chicago.”}

^{In addition to serving as General Director of COT he has been Chairman of the International Jury for Preselections for the Bertelsmann Foundation’s biennial Neue Stimmen Competition since 1999. In this capacity in the summer of 2009 he auditioned more than 800 singers on four continents.}

^{Brian sits on the board of Opera America and the Chicago College of Performing Arts.}