Santa Fe Opera
Open-sided hillside opera house north of Santa Fe, playing a summer season in rotating repertory.
The Santa Fe Opera was founded in 1956 by the conductor John Crosby and gave its first performance, Puccini's Madama Butterfly, on 3 July 1957. It stands on a ridge about seven miles north of Santa Fe, looking west across the Rio Grande valley towards the Jemez Mountains. The company plays a short summer season of five operas in rotating repertory and has built an international reputation for new work, having given dozens of American and world premieres alongside the standard repertoire.
The original 480-seat theatre burned down in 1967 and was rebuilt the following year. The present Crosby Theatre, completed in 1998 to a design by the Polshek Partnership, seats around 2,128 with additional standing room. Its sweeping curved roof shelters the audience and stage while leaving the sides open to the desert air, so the landscape and weather remain part of the performance. Tailgate suppers in the car parks before curtain-up are a long-standing part of the ritual.
Highlights
- Open-sided auditorium with views towards the Jemez Mountains
- Curved shell roof by the Polshek Partnership, completed 1998
- Five operas each summer in rotating repertory
- Long record of American and world premieres
