The Atlanta Symphony announced this week that Evans Mirageas, artistic director of Cincinnati Opera, has been appointed the orchestra's director of artistic planning.

He will work closely with music director Robert Spano, principal guest conductor Donald Runnicles and president and managing director Allison Vulgamore.

Mirageas, 52, was selected for the newly-created position after an extensive eight-month search. A Michigan native and graduate of the University of Michigan, he was listed as one of the "25 Most Powerful Names in Opera" in the August 2006 issue of Opera News.

In addition to his positions with the ASO and Cincinnati Opera, Mirageas also serves as an artistic advisor to conductors Semyon Bychkov and Roger Norrington, the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Milwaukee Symphony and the Handel and Haydn Society of Boston. He is also a former artistic administrator of the Boston Symphony and vice president for artists and repertoire for Decca Records in London, where he supervised recordings by Luciano Pavarotti, Cecilia Bartoli, Georg Solti and others.

The Cincinnati Post quotes Mirageas as saying that his new position in Atlanta won't interfere with his work in Cincinnati, but that "it's a new string to my bow. It's the forward concert-programming planning for the Atlanta Symphony, which is something I have done for a few other orchestras as a freelancer. I'm going to do it in Atlanta as an ongoing relationship alongside my work with Cincinnati."

He will reportedly be in Atlanta about once a month.