Timothy O’Leary comes to the company from a very successful decade running the Opera Theater of St. Louis, writes Anne Midgette. “The companies in St. Louis and Washington are very different animals. St. Louis is a festival, where an intense five- or six-week season, attended by audiences from around the world, is followed by a whole year of planning and gestation. Washington, by contrast, has a year-round season but plays more to local audiences. … When the season is longer, carving out time to be creative, to come up with new ideas and initiatives, is a challenge.”