Fort Worth Opera - History

History

The Fort Worth Civic Opera Association, now known as Fort Worth Opera, was founded by three women, Eloise MacDonald Snyder and Betty Spain, both former opera singers, and pianist and composer Jeanne Axtell Walker. In seven months, the trio pulled together a full scale production of Verdi's La Traviata, performed on November 25, 1946 in a building now known as the Cowtown Coliseum located in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The new association went through several management changes before it hired Rudolf Kruger as the musical director in 1955. Under Kruger’s guidance, Fort Worth Opera went on to become an arts company of note, especially during the 1960s, when it helped launch the careers of Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.

In 1982, the Fort Worth Opera executive board moved to reduce Kruger’s responsibilities and began searching for a new managing director. The next several years proved to be difficult for the company, both financially and administratively. It hired and terminated two managing directors that were unable to generate the ticket sales and financial stability of Kruger. In 1991, Fort Worth Opera hired William Walker, a former singer with a distinguished career as one of Metropolitan Opera’s principal baritones and as a recurring guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

Under Walker’s direction the company was able to return to financial stability and artistic success. In 1998, the executive board, unhappy with Walker’s administrative management and direction, offered him a severance package, which he initially accepted. Later at a meeting of the full board, his supporters rallied to overturn the executive committee’s decision. The company lost many important board members and donors as a result. The remaining board hired an executive director to help with administrative issues and Walker retained his position until his retirement in June 2002.

In July 2001, Fort Worth Opera hired a new general director, Darren Keith Woods. Woods' prior experience included twenty years as a successful character tenor and general director of the Seagle Music Colony in upstate New York and Shreveport Opera. In recent years, the company has introduced more American and modern repertory to its programming, although it continues to produce mostly classical opera.

Fort Worth Opera hosts a singer’s apprentice program, The Fort Worth Opera Studio. The Studio program gives new singers training and experience, mostly through the company’s Children’s Opera Tour, a program that according to the company brings opera to approximately 100,000 school children each year across the state of Texas, including those in low-income and low-performing schools. Fort Worth Opera also offers “Student Night at the Opera” and $5 tickets to students as part of its educational outreach.