Opera in Santa Fe - Summer music in the mountains of New Mexico

Established in 1957, Santa Fe Opera was the brainchild of New York conductor John Crosby, who felt a home-grown opera company would provide a fertile training ground for young American talent – as well as the ideal complement to Santa Fe’s celebrated arts scene.

From the start, the company attracted exceptional musicians – Stravinsky conducted and directed here in the 50s – and, over the years, has developed an international reputation for premiering new work and mounting innovative productions of the classic repertoire. Its ‘Apprentice Programme’ has now trained over 1,500 opera singers, including stars such as Joyce DiDonato and James Morris.

We see all five productions of the 2025 season: Verdi’s Rigoletto, Wagner’s Walküre, Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Britten’s Turn of the Screw and Puccini’s Bohème. Our lecturer introduces the performances through a series of talks. The evenings are further enhanced by the opera house itself. Now in its third incarnation, it is open to the sides linking the audience with the landscape beyond. Glimpsing the setting sun over the desert foothills of the Sangre de Cristo mountains is yet another highlight.

The small town of Santa Fe shares this backdrop of rolling hills and shadowed peaks, and its green and pleasant streets are celebrated for their sophisticated mix of galleries and boutiques, as well as for some of the oldest buildings in the United States. Colonised by the Spanish in the early seventeenth century, recaptured by the native Pueblo Indians in 1680, ruled by Mexico following their War of Independence and finally becoming part of the United States in 1846, the city’s museums tell a fascinating story.

We stay in a comfortable hotel in the centre of town, and a fifteen-minute drive to the opera house. From here there is a gentle programme of visits and excursions, including a journey deep into the surrounding countryside to see the cliff-dwellings at the Bandelier National Monument.