Staff

Greg Carpenter is a senior executive in the performing arts field with 25 years of experience in leadership, fundraising, board governance, and strategic planning. He received a Bachelor of Music degree in vocal performance from Wittenberg University; a Master of Music degree in vocal performance from Michigan State University; completed Post-Graduate Studies with the Maryland Opera Studio at the University of Maryland School of Music; and has attended Wharton School of Business’s Executive Leadership Programs.

Greg Carpenter is the first individual to hold the title of General & Artistic Director in the forty-one-year history of Opera Colorado. He has served in this capacity since 2007 and guides both the artistic and administrative operations of the company. Greg joined Opera Colorado in July of 2004 as the Director of Development.

During his tenure at Opera Colorado, Greg has initiated a new artistic vision for the company which embraces new and rarely performed works presented in innovative ways. This initiative began in 2016 with Opera Colorado’s presentation of the world premiere of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter and has continued in subsequent seasons with Laura Kaminsky’s As One in 2017, the world premiere of Gerald Cohen’s Steal A Pencil for Me in 2018, Tom Cipullo’s one-act operas titled After Life and Josephine in 2019, and in 2022, Paul Moravec and Mark Campbell’s The Shining.

Greg has been the chief architect behind collaborations with the Denver Art Museum, Museum of Nature and Science, Colorado Railroad Museum, Buntport Theatre, Davis Contemporary Dance, the Mizel Arts and Cultural Center, Rocky Mountain Public Media, and numerous other Denver based cultural institutions. Greg led the collaboration with conductor Marin Alsop and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra to record the 2008 production of John Adams’ Nixon In China on the Naxos label, the world premiere of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter with the Opera Colorado Orchestra which was released on Naxos in August of 2017 to significant critical acclaim, and Gerald Cohen’s Steal A Pencil For Me recorded in 2022 and released on the Sono Luminus label in August of 2024.

During Greg’s tenure as General and Artistic Director, Opera Colorado has expanded its reach into the Denver Metropolitan Area and the State of Colorado through innovative education and community engagement programs and has made a significant commitment to provide expert training to the next generation of performing artists through the nationally recognized Opera Colorado Artist in Residence program.

As an expert fundraiser, Greg has led numerous artistic campaigns supporting new works, new productions and increasing the quality of the company’s artistic initiatives. He has established a strategic fundraising operation that has led to increased annual support and has increased the Opera Colorado Foundation (the company’s endowment) from $1.1 million to $6.1 million in recent years.

Prior to joining Opera Colorado, Greg worked for four years for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., first as a special project coordinator for the President of the National Symphony Orchestra and then as the Director of Development. Greg also served as the Artist and Events Manager for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland, where he managed the Marian Anderson International Vocal Arts Competition and Festival, and the William Kappel International Piano Competition and Festival.

Greg has served two terms on the Board of Directors of OPERA America, the national service organization to the field. He served as Chairman of the Fundraising Committee for the 2008 National Performing Arts Convention held in Denver, CO, and in 2009 was awarded a Livingston Fellowship in Leadership from the Bonfils-Stanton Foundation. Greg also serves as a judge for the Metropolitan Opera National Laffont Competition for singers and has judged the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Annual Voice Competition in New York City.

Greg was a professional opera singer from 1984 – 1998 singing leading and supporting roles at Glimmerglass Opera, Central City Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Theatre of Northern Virginia, Cleveland Opera and Lyric Opera Cleveland.

Recently appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Advisor of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera (SP&O), Finnish-American conductor Ari Pelto is in demand with orchestras, opera houses, and ballet companies throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

In the 2024-2025 season, Pelto will open with the Opera Colorado premiere of Donizetti’s Daughter of the Regiment. Highlights of the season include his debut at the Hamburg State Opera with Eugene Onegin, and several appearances with SP&O where he will conduct works by Beethoven, Mozart, Mahler, and Tchaikovsky. Additionally at SP&O, Pelto will collaborate with world-class soloists, including Augustin Hadelich for Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major and Awadagin Pratt for Jessie Montgomery’s Rounds for piano and strings. He will return to Atlanta Ballet this season with Balanchine’s Coppélia and Yuri Possokhov’s innovative production of of The Nutcracker. He recently had an album release of the Opera Colorado world premiere of Gerald Cohen’s Steal a Pencil for Me, based on a true love story set in a concentration camp during World War II.

Since joining Opera Colorado as its first Music Director in 2015, Pelto has conducted acclaimed performances of Turandot, Cavalleria rusticana, La traviata, Don Giovanni, Madama Butterfly, Aida, La bohème, Falstaff, La fanciulla del West, Marriage of Figaro, Barber of Seville, Lucia di Lammermoor, Pagliacci, and Carmen. Outside of the repertory staples, Pelto has conducted Opera Colorado’s premiere productions of Paul Moravec’s The Shining, Korngold’s rarely performed masterwork Die tote Stadt, and led the world premieres of Lori Laitman’s The Scarlet Letter (also recorded and released on the Naxos label), and Gerald Cohen’s Steal a Pencil for Me.

Also a masterful collaborator with dancers, Maestro Pelto has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with the Atlanta Ballet as Principal Guest Conductor. He conducted Jean-Christophe Maillot’s groundbreaking production of Romeo and Juliet and John McFall’s production of Prokofiev’s Cinderella, as well as leading the company in the world premieres of Twyla Tharp’s first story ballet, The Princess and the Goblin, and Helen Pickett’s Camino Real.

Previous conducting appointments include Assistant Conductor of the Spoleto Festival, five seasons as Guest Conductor of New York City Opera, Principal Guest Conductor of Opera Memphis, and Assistant Conductor of the Florida West Coast Symphony (now Sarasota Orchestra). Pelto has also enjoyed guest appearances with the Kennedy Center Orchestra, The New National Theatre in Tokyo, London’s Royal Opera, San Diego Opera, the Florida Orchestra, Seattle Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Atlanta Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Utah Symphony and Opera, Portland Opera, Minnesota Opera, and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.

Dedicated to musical training for emerging artists, Pelto has be a presence at Wolf Trap Opera, San Francisco Opera, Merola, Chautauqua Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center, The Juilliard School, and Curtis Institute of Music. He has served as a regular guest faculty member of the NYU Orchestra and conducted the mainstage operas for Oberlin in Italy for nine years.

Maestro Pelto’s musical training includes a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance from Oberlin Conservatory, a Master of Music from Indiana University—where he studied with Imre Pallo—as well as conducting studies at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki and the Rubin Academy in Jerusalem.