Khori Dastoor

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Khori Dastoor is an American arts administrator, currently general director of Opera San Jose. As of January 2022, she will be the general director and CEO of the Houston Grand Opera.^[1]

A native of Pasadena, California, Dastoor joined the artistic staff of Opera San José in 2013 as artistic advisor to the general director under Irene Dalis, and then as the director of artistic planning and deputy general director under Larry Hancock, where she was responsible for artist recruitment, negotiations, artistic budget management, interdepartmental communication, audition strategy, industry interface, liaison to creative teams, city contacts, artist managers and senior staff. During Dastoor's tenure with the company, she has prioritized role debuts, granting San Jose's audiences the opportunity to hear new artists, and has produced some of the biggest successes in the company's history, including the American premiere of Alma Deutcher's Cinderella,^[2] and the critically acclaimed new production of Jake Heggie's Moby-Dick.^[3]

In the spring of 2019, the Opera San José board of directors announced the appointment of Dastoor as the company's third general director,^[4] succeeding the retiring Larry Hancock. She assumed the position in the fall of 2019, overseeing all aspects of artistic planning and business operations. Among her missions are renewing Opera San José's commitment to developing and curating emerging talent and elevating the company as a vibrant artistic incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley. She officially took the helm in January 2020, announcing a ground-breaking debut season^[5] (2020–21).

Due to the onset of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Dastoor cancelled the final two operas in the 2019–20 season and immediately launched the Opera San José Artist and Musicians Relief Fund,^[6] one of the nation's first relief funds to help musicians, artists, and artisans affected by the sudden loss of work due to COVID-19.

In June 2020, Dastoor unveiled Opera San José's Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio,^[7] a new performance/film space that enables the company to stream high-quality, fully produced operatic performances into the living rooms of patrons. On July 11, 2020, Opera San José launched its Digital Media Studio^[8] series with virtual performances of Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (‘A Poet’s Love’) song cycle performed by resident artist baritone Eugene Brancoveanu and resident artist conductor Christopher James Ray on piano. The virtual performance was offered with Spanish and Vietnamese translations,^[9] in addition to English, welcoming two of San Jose's largest communities to experience its local art. Dastoor saw this performance, the first in Opera San José's Digital Media Studio series, as one of the many opportunities to make the work the company produces more widely available. The Fred Heiman Digital Media Studio was made possible by a generous lead donation from Opera San José trustee Peggy Heiman in honor of her late husband, devoted Opera San José supporter Fred Heiman.

In August 2020, Opera San José announced its cohort of 2020–21 resident artists^[10] who will quarantine together, allowing them to continue creating work to be shared virtually, and eventually on stage once it is again safe to open theatres to live audiences. In addition to the full-scale, mainstage operas slated for Opera San José's 2021 season, members of the resident ensemble will perform in digital concerts, recitals, in-conversation and Meet the Artists events, and fully produced operas created specifically for digital broadcast, as well as educational programming for youths and adults.

Dastoor previously served as the associate director of the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI) responsible for initiatives encompassing arts, music, and archaeology. In this capacity she worked closely with PHI's president and various grantee organizations on a wide range of collaborative projects involving performance, historical conservation, and digital musicology. She also acted as director of the San Francisco District of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions (SF MONC), overseeing all aspects of SF MONC, including fundraising, strategic planning, administration, marketing, team staffing, volunteer recruitment and oversight, judge selection, community engagement, corporate sponsorships, and institutional partnerships.

Education[]

Dastoor graduated with honors from the New England Conservatory of Music and completed her doctoral studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was the recipient of the Dean's Award for the School of Arts and Architecture.^[11]

Career[]

Prior to her transition into administration, Dastoor enjoyed a career performing throughout the US, Europe and Asia, including credits at LA Opera, Lucerne Opera, Lake George Opera, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

The operatic repertoire which she performed included such roles as Gilda (Rigoletto), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Sophie (Werther), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Despina (Così fan tutte), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Micaela (Carmen), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Manon (Manon), Miss Wordsworth (Albert Herring), Gabrielle (La Vie parisienne), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Lauretta (Gianni Schicchi), Lakmé (Lakmé), Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Cunegonde (Candide).^[12][13][14]

Her contemporary repertoire included such premier roles as La Novia in Lorca, Child of the Moon and Mary in the world premiere of Paul Chihara's Magnificat.^[15]

References[]