Italian conductor Nicola Luisotti has been appointed music director of the San Francisco Opera, succeeding Donald Runnicles, who departs the post at the end of the 2008-09 season. Luisotti, who made his debut the company in 2005, will conduct a minimum of four productions each season. “Luisotti’s rise as a conductor has been strikingly rapid, dating from his international debut in Stuttgart in 2002. Since then, he has made acclaimed debuts in Paris, Toronto, Munich and Los Angeles.”