Houston Grand Opera (HGO) is getting glowing headlines these days, so SF Classical Voice asked its General Director and CEO, Khori Dastoor, a simple question:
“What is your secret sauce?”
Somewhat to our surprise, Dastoor had an immediate answer: “There is no such thing.”
The company’s recent successes include two Grammy nominations; press attention for the recent hiring of an American music director, James Gaffigan; announcements of bold and pioneering new works; and critical acclaim by critics, audiences, and the music “industry.” All this is from an opera company with a budget of about $33 million — about half of the Chicago Lyric Opera’s expenses and one-third of San Francisco Opera’s.
How is Dastoor doing it? She says, “One person can only operate in a context, in relationships with the contacts you inherited.”
Among her defining inheritance, Dastoor names David Gockley — HGO’s general director from 1972–2005 and SF Opera’s general director from 2006–2016. She also names her mentor and predecessor at Opera San José, Irene Dalis.
Dastoor, 45, particularly values Gockley’s “optimism and inclusion of a spectrum of opera and musicals.” Porgy and Bess, which Gockley brought to the HGO stage in 1976, is part of HGO’s current season. As at a time of Gockley's stewardship, Houston once again has “tremendous growth, the opportunity to ride the wave,” Dastoor says.
Dastoor is in awe of Dalis (1935–2014), who had a magnificent career as a mezzo-soprano and then became founder and head of Opera San José from 1984 until the year of her death. Dastoor recalls Dalis’s advice: “Don’t be apologetic. The present moment is what is important. Have a diversity of support and a talent pool.”
Dastoor’s association with Opera San José began as a member of the company’s resident ensemble. She then became artistic advisor in 2013, director of artistic planning in 2015, and CEO from 2019-2021, when she was offered the job in Houston. While she was still at Opera San José, SFCV described Dastoor as “a great communicator who has thought deeply about what she’s doing and where the company is headed under her direction. She’s also a fearless truth-teller.”
HGO’s 2026 Grammy nominations include Best Opera Recording for Jake Heggie’s Intelligence and Producer of the Year (Classical) for Blanton Alspaugh’s work on both Intelligence and Jules Massenet’s Werther.
The New York Times reported: “driven by creative leadership and generous donors, the company, long a beacon of innovation, is bucking trends in the field.”
Ticket revenue at HGO is reported to have increased 24% since 2019. The same source states that the number of ticket buyers rose 27% and the company’s endowment has doubled since pre-COVID days. “This all comes amidst an uncharacteristic slump for the rest of America’s top opera [companies],” notes a press release from HGO.
HGO was also a finalist for Opera Company of the Year in the 2025 International Opera Awards, and is the only American company to be nominated for that award three times. HGO has toured extensively and has won a Tony, Grammy (twice), and Emmy (three times) over its history, the only opera company to win all three honors.
The company’s next presentation from Jan. 23–Feb. 8 will be a production of Kevin Puts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning opera, Silent Night, in a new revision by the composer.
During the federal administration’s campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion last year, Houston Grand Opera announced a three-year initiative, created in partnership with Novum Energy, the Novum Foundation, and Novum Energy CEO Alfredo Vilas, to support and recruit exceptional Latin American opera artists to HGO while creating new operatic offerings that reflect the diversity of Houston.
Dastoor’s parents both emigrated to the United States. Her father is an Indian Parsis, a Zoroastrian ethno-religious group of Persian descent. Her surname is a term for a Zoroastrian high priest and her legal first name is Khorshed meaning the “radiant sun.” Her mother came here from Indonesia via Holland.
Dastoor credits her parents for instilling within her a love for classical music. As a child growing up in Pasadena, Dastoor performed with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus.
Dastoor has named what is guiding her: “the idea of nimbleness and not deciding three years in advance what art is going to be relevant in the moment … Accepting risk and failure as a part of what we do … instead of [insisting on] the perfect end result.
“That’s boring to me, it’s boring to people who don’t love opera, and it’s boring to people who have been going to opera their whole lives.”
