There’s only one Principal Conductor at the Opera in San Diego and at other organizations, though they go by different names- Chief Conductor, Music Director, etc.

We do have a Resident Conductor in San Diego. I’m in San Diego once or twice a year for an opera, and the Resident conductor usually does one opera. We also have guest conductors come.

Rehearsing opera takes time. Usually anywhere between 2-4 weeks before you start performing. In the German/Austrian system which is called a repertory system, meaning a different opera every night, they can have as little as 4 days to rehearse. But that makes for rocky performances sometimes!