Santa Fe Opera
John Crosby founded the Opera Association of New Mexico in 1956 and built an open-air theatre on a former guest ranch of 199 acres north of Santa Fe. The company opened on July 3, 1957 with a sold-out Madama Butterfly. On July 27, 1967, four weeks into the season, fire destroyed the house; performances continued in a school gymnasium while a campaign backed by Igor Stravinsky raised 2.4 million dollars, and a new 1,889-seat theatre opened on June 26, 1968, again with Butterfly. Crosby led the company until 2000, the longest general directorship in American opera.
The present Crosby Theatre, designed by James Polshek's firm and completed in ten months for the 1998 season, seats 2,128 plus 106 standees under two cable-supported roofs joined by a clerestory window, its sides open to the desert and the evening sky. Die Zauberflöte entered the repertoire in the rebuilt theatre's first season, 1968, and has returned often, from Tim Albery's 2006 staging to a new co-production with Garsington Opera in 2026.
On stage here
7 dates
Performance dates
Video
THE MAGIC FLUTE at the Santa Fe Opera
Data: open sources (opera houses, ticketing platforms, Wikidata). Part of the worldwide Die Zauberflöte map.