The Santa Fe Opera: An American Pioneer

Honoring the fiftieth anniversary of the Santa Fe Opera, this is a portrait of a pioneering American company that is recognized as one of today s most important international festivals. The Santa Fe Opera was founded with the idea of establishing an American style of opera. From the beginning, the company was forward-looking and modern in spirit, championing young American singers and new operas, and focusing on innovative repertory and theatrically-driven productions. With its stunning open-air theater set in the spectacular landscape of northern New Mexico s high mountain desert, it has become a place of pilgrimage--a destination for performers and audiences alike. The Santa Fe Opera s commitment to the operas of our own time was launched the very first season, when it began a close relationship with Igor Stravinsky. Over the years, it has given the American premieres of major landmarks, including Alban Berg s "Lulu," six operas by Richard Strauss, Janacek s "The Cunning Little Vixen," works by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Dmitri Shostakovich, six new operas by Hans Werner Henze, and Kaija Saariaho s award-winning "L amour de loin." It commissioned Luciano Berio s avant-garde classic, "Opera," and Tobias Picker s "Emmeline." Some of the most celebrated singers of the past half century got their start in Santa Fe, many of them emerging from its ground-breaking apprentice program, which has trained a new generation of opera stars. This is the story of a trailblazing company that, in just fifty years, has changed the musical map of America.