Khori Dastoor

Khori Dastoor
Born	Pasadena, California
Occupations	Opera singer(soprano) opera administrator

Khorshed Dastoorbetter known asKhori Dastooris an American arts executive. She is the General Director and CEO ofHouston Grand Opera(2021–present) and the former General Director ofOpera San José(2019-2021).

Dastoor has dedicated her career as an arts leader to initiatives surrounding innovation, accessibility, diversity, talent incubation, and fundraising.

Education

Dastoor was raised in Pasadena, California. She holds a bachelor’s degree fromthe New England Conservatory of Musicand a master’s degree fromUCLA,where she was the recipient of the Dean's Award for the School of Arts and Architecture.While studying at UCLA she served as a teaching artist with the Education Department atLA Opera.

Career

Dastoor pursued a career as an operatic soprano before transitioning to a career in arts administration starting in foundation funding at thePackard Humanities Institute,before moving into opera leadership at Opera San José and Houston Grand Opera.

Houston Grand Opera

TheHouston Grand Opera(HGO) Board of Directors announced Khori Dastoor’s appointment as General Director and CEOof the companyin June 2021.Dastoor is the fourth General Director and first CEO in the history of the company.

Prior to Dastoor’s appointment, HGO was led byArtistic and Music Director Patrick Summersand Managing Director Perryn Leech. In 2020 Leech departed for a new position as General Director of Canadian Opera Company, at which time the HGO Board of Directors and Leadership decided to return to a single General Director/CEO. Dastoor assumed leadership of HGO in August 2021 and moved to Houston full time in December 2021. Summers continues to serve as HGO’s Artistic and Music Director.

Dastoor’s belief that every member of Houston’s diverse international community deserves access to great art and culture has defined her core priorities for HGO. These include presenting world-class productions and original new works grounded in Houston; cultivating the talents of promising emerging artists from across the globe; and increasing diversity on the stage, in the audience, and within the organization.

During her first full season with the company, in 2021-22, Dastoor oversaw the expansion of online art-sharing initiative HGO Digital to include the first livestream of a company world premiere, Joel Thompson'sThe Snowy Day,for viewers in 35 countries. In June 2022, Dastoor announced the appointment of Thompson as the first full-time Composer-in-Residence in the company's history.

Under her leadership, HGOproduced a new mainstage production ofDame Ethel Smyth’s 1906 operaThe Wreckersfor the company's 2022-23 season. This marked the first staging by a professional American opera company of the composer’s often overlooked masterpiece.

In February 2023, Dastoor announced that HGO had received the largest gift in its history from Sarah and Ernest Butler. The gift created a new fund within the HGO Endowment valued at $22 million, and the HGO Studio program for emerging artists was renamed the Sarah and Ernest Butler Houston Grand Opera Studio.

In March 2023, Dastoor announced HGO's 2023-24 seasonand its opening production of the mainstage world-premiere ofIntelligence,the company's 75th commissioned opera. Created by composerJake Heggie,librettistGene Scheer,and director/choreographerJawole Willa Jo Zollar,the new opera shares the story of a women-run pro-Union spy ring during the Civil War.

Opera San José

In the spring of 2019, the Opera San José (OSJ) Board of Directors announced the appointment of Dastoor as the company's third General Director,.She assumed the position in the fall of 2019, overseeing all aspects of artistic planning and business operations.

At OSJ Dastoor’s renewed the company’s commitment to developing and curating emerging talent and elevated the company as a vibrant artistic incubator in the heart of Silicon Valley.

The COVID-19 pandemic hit soon after Dastoor took over leadership at OSJ, forcing the cancelation of the final production of the 2019-20 season.In response to the pandemic, Dastoor quickly launched the Opera San José Artist and Musicians Relief Fund, one of the nation's first initiatives of its kind.

In June 2020, Dastoor founded the company’s Heiman Digital Media Studio, a state-of-the-art performance/film space that enables the company to capture and stream high-quality, fully produced operatic performances. Its first offering was Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe (‘A Poet’s Love’) song cycle, which was offered with Spanish and Vietnamese translations, in addition to English, welcoming two of San Jose's largest communities to experience its local art.

In August 2020, Opera San José announced that its 2020-21 resident artists would quarantine together, allowing them to continue creating work to be shared virtually, performing in concerts, recitals, conversations, and fully produced operas created specifically for digital broadcast, as well as educational programming for youths and adults. On December 3, 2020, OSJ released for on-demand-streaming, a new digital production ofJake Heggie's chamber operaThree Decembersfeaturing renowned mezzo-sopranoSusan Grahamand OSJ resident artists.

During the fall of 2021, after the announcement of her new position at Houston Grand Opera, Dastoor split her time between OSJ and HGO. In November 2021, OSJ made a return to live performance with a critically acclaimed new production of Pursell’sDido and Aeneas.

Early Administrative Career

In 2013 Dastoor was named Artistic Advisor to Opera San José under founder Irene Dalis, and in 2015 she became Director of Artistic Planning under General Director Larry Hancock.

Concurrently, Dastoor served as a member of foundation leadership at the Packard Humanities Institute (PHI), which funds 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.

Opera Career

Dastoor, a retired operatic soprano, first worked with Opera San José as a member of the company’s residence ensemble of principal artists, hired by company founderIrene Dalis.

As an opera singer, Dastoor enjoyed a career performing throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, with credits at companies including LA Opera,Lucerne Opera,Lake George Opera,and theOregon Shakespeare Festival.

Dastoor’s operatic repertoire 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).

Dastoor’s contemporary repertoire included such premier roles as La Novia in Lorca, Child of the Moonand Mary in the world premiere of Paul Chihara's Magnificat.

Affiliations

Khori Dastoor currently serves on the Board of Directors forOpera America,where she is the Co-Chair of the Learning and Leadership Counciland a founding member and mentor for the Mentorship Program for Opera Leaders of Color.

She assists with industry efforts to identify young talent as a judge for theRichard Tucker Awardsand theMetropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition,and she advocates for artists as a board member of the Symphony, Opera and Ballet Employers Electronic Media Association.

Personal life

Dastoor’s parents both emigrated to the U.S. Her father is anIndian Parsi,a Zoroastrian ethno-religious group of Persian descent. Her surname is a term for aZoroastrian high priest,and her legal first name isKhorshedmeaning the "Radiant Sun".Her mother is fromIndonesiaviaHolland.She credits her parents for instilling within her a love for classical music. As a child growing up in Pasadena, Dastoor performed with theLA Children’s Chorus.She and her husband are the parents of two young daughters.