Editing Dallas Opera (section)

==History==
The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic Opera by Lawrence Kelly and [[Nicolà Rescigno]], both of whom had been active with [[Lyric Opera of Chicago]], the first as administrator, the second as artistic director.<ref name=GWL>Loomis, George "''Otello'', Dallas Opera", ''Financial Times'', 26 October 2009).]</ref>  In its first season, [[Maria Callas]] performed in an inaugural recital conducted by Rescigno, at [[Music Hall at Fair Park]].  Critic [[John Ardoin]] described the role of Lawrence Kelly in establishing the company as follows:

: “Everything must ride or fall on the taste of one man…. As it did with Kelly and his company. He went through all kinds of crap for 10 months out of the year -- mean fund-raising and playing social games and all -- to do what he loved the most for two months out of the year. And Kelly didn't care if you did ''[[Aida]]'', or ''[[Rigoletto]]'', or ''[[Carmen]]'' -- it just had to be the best ''Aida'', and ''Rigoletto'', and ''Carmen''. He would agonize over it, and think it out. Nothing was ever casual with him, in the casting or the productions. That's not to say he didn't make mistakes. But, ultimately, it was his taste, and his vision, and his commitment that did the trick".
 
Many singers made their American debuts in Dallas, such as [[Montserrat Caballé]], [[Plácido Domingo]], [[Gwyneth Jones (opera singer)|Gwyneth Jones]], [[Waltraud Meier]], [[Magda Olivero]], [[Joan Sutherland]], and [[Jon Vickers]]. Designer/director [[Franco Zeffirelli]] also made his US debut there.

The company's first commission was for [[Robert Xavier Rodriguez]]'s one-act children's opera ''Monkey See, Monkey Do'' in 1985. The Dallas Opera commissioned [[Dominick Argento]]’s ''[[The Aspern Papers (opera)|The Aspern Papers]]'' and gave its world premiere, which was nationally broadcast on [[PBS]]'s “[[Great Performances]]” series in 1988.  Additional commissions were for [[Tobias Picker]]'s ''[[Thérèse Raquin]]'' in 2001 and [[Jake Heggie]]'s ''[[Moby-Dick (opera)|Moby-Dick]]'' in 2010. Recent commissions have included British composer [[Joby Talbot]] and Gene Scheer's ''[[Everest (opera)|Everest]]'', ''[[Great Scott (opera)|Great Scott]]'' by Jake Heggie and [[Terrence McNally]], and [[Mark Adamo]]'s ''Becoming Santa Claus''.

The company moved to the Winspear Opera House as of the 2009-2010 season and moved its administrative offices into the building in the spring of 2010.