The most recent project even included the addition of LCD touchscreens on each seat and in standing-room areas, and each screen displays translations of the performances in Spanish and English. Six years, including the first North American performance of Persephone in 1961.Īfter a fire struck the opera in 1967, it was rebuilt into a 1,889-seat theater just a year later and rebuilt again in 1998 into a 2,126-seat theater (with 106 standing-room spots). “To have someone of that caliber involved really raised the artistic profile of the company right off the bat.” Santa Fe hosted performances of some of Stravinsky’s most famous operas for more than “One of the things that put the Santa Fe Opera on the map was that Crosby was able to bring world-renowned composer Igor Stravinsky to the opera for several summers,” says Santa Fe Opera general director Robert K. The original theater was much smaller than its modern counterpart, but it would play host to some of its most important performances. Construction began on the opera’s original 480-seat theater in 1956, and by 1957 the first summer festival kicked off. When he returned to the area later in life, he envisioned a place that would bring together the natural vistas and the magnificence of live music-and the Santa Fe Opera was born. He had spent a portion of his childhood studying at the Los Alamos Ranch School outside of Santa Fe, and he fell in love with the vastness and beauty of the landscape. Farms and cattle, but not much else, dotted the landscape-that was, until New York-born musician and conductor John Crosby had a vision. In the twentieth century, much of the land around Santa Fe was underdeveloped.

Santa fe opera house seating chart