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Fort Worth Opera announces the unanimous election of Katherine Polenz as Chair of its Board of Trustees, ushering in a new era of leadership as the organization launches Match the Momentum: 80 Years of Opera in Fort Worth, an ambitious, multi-year fundraising campaign designed to honor its legacy and secure its future.

Opera fans should mark their calendars for Friday, October 10. A very special 80th anniversary season opener is planned for the Fort Worth Opera. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman will take the stage at the intimate Van Cliburn Concert Hall on the TCU campus for a rare U.S. recital along with pianist Michael Recchiuti. The one-night-only performance by the international star will be immediately followed by the Opera’s annual Dinner with the Stars.

The Fort Worth Opera is opening its 80th season with a bang. Tenor Jonathan Tetelman, an international star who rarely appears in the U.S., is giving a one-night-only concert October 10 at Van Cliburn Concert Hall on the TCU campus.

Eighty years after its founding by three Fort Worth women with a shared passion for the arts, the Fort Worth Opera is celebrating its milestone anniversary with a season that embraces both legacy and bold experimentation. Under the leadership of General Director Angela Turner Wilson, a former professional opera singer with a 17-year stage career and the Chair of Voice at Texas Christian University, the company is curating a season that honors tradition while reaching new audiences in unexpected ways.

Fort Worth Opera General & Artistic Director Angela Turner Wilson proudly announced the company’s 80th anniversary season — a year-long celebration of the oldest opera company in Texas, with each production spotlighting a defining element of the company’s artistic legacy.

Fort Worth Opera General & Artistic Director Angela Turner Wilson have announced the company’s 80th anniversary season, which will be a year-long celebration of the oldest opera company in Texas.

FORT WORTH, TX — Fort Worth Opera announces the unanimous election of Katherine Polenz as Chair of its Board of Trustees, ushering in a new era of leadership as the organization launches Match the Momentum: 80 Years of Opera in Fort Worth, an ambitious, multi-year fundraising campaign designed to honor its legacy and secure its future.

On Oct. 10, 2025, tenor Jonathan Tetelman will take the stage of the Van Cliburn Concert Hall to open the Fort Worth Opera’s 80th anniversary season.

Tetelman will be joined by pianist Michael Recchiuti.

In a statement Tetelman said, “We’re going to do a Tosti set — Italian canzoni that need a softness you can lose with full orchestration. Then we’ll do Neapolitan songs, Nino Rota’s ‘Parla più piano’ from The Godfather, Spanish favorites like ‘Granada’ and ‘No puede ser,’ and of course some Puccini arias that people might not have experienced this way before.”

The Fort Worth Opera is opening its 80th season with a bang. Tenor Jonathan Teleman, an international star who rarely appears in the U.S., is giving a one-night-only concert October 10 at Van Cliburn Concert Hall on the TCU campus.

To give you a sense of how rare this really is, Tetelman's next two U.S. appearances will be at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center.

The Fort Worth Opera presented a stellar production of Gioachino Rossini’s La Cenerentola, an operatic version of Cinderella, the much-loved and oft-told fairy tale. Modern audiences know the 1950 Disney version–replete with ugly stepsisters, funny fairies, glass slippers, pumpkin chariots, and a handsome (unmarried) prince.

Both singers and the Fort Worth Symphony did the company proud.

Fort Worth Opera brings its season to a close this weekend at Bass Performance Hall with an Italian composer's take on the classic fairy tale Cinderella. It’s the company’s first fully staged production at Bass Hall since 2019 and the opera is pulling out all the stops with a powerhouse cast, full orchestra, lush sets and costumes.