Bio
A visionary builder by nature, Barbara Lynne Jamison has spent her career sparking multiple initiatives for artists and communities to connect, celebrate, and create, including new commissions, emerging artist opportunities, community engagement programs, and innovative ways of producing and experiencing opera.
By inviting and centering the voices of the community, Jamison’s work has consistently produced deep, new, and sustainable philanthropic support, multi-year partnerships, and longitudinal growth. This approach has quickly resulted in increased diversity on stage and in the audience, successfully demonstrating the power of opera as a vehicle for inspiring beauty, truth, and reconciliation in communities.
Prior to her appointment to Opera Colorado, Jamison served as General Director + CEO of Kentucky Opera, where she led the acquisition, funding, and activation of the Kentucky Opera Center for Cultural Health, a new civic home to expand the company’s mission; built new programs to broaden service to the community; and served her local community as a Juneteenth Jubilee Commissioner, Chair of the Arts & Culture Alliance, and member of the Louisville Rotary Club’s Leadership Team, among other groups. Jamison also previously served on the executive leadership teams at Seattle Opera and the Metropolitan Opera Guild, and was an accomplished soprano, conductor, and educator.
Jamison currently serves on the OPERA America Board of Directors and on the Trustee Council, Government Affairs working group, and Learning & Leadership Council.
As a grateful alumna of many notable mentorship programs, such as Leadership Kentucky (2020), American Express Women in Music Leadership (2019), and OPERA America Leadership Intensive (2014) alumna, her work is infused with building the next generation of artists, technicians, and opera leadership. She continues to be involved in nurturing the next generation of leaders as a mentor, and is active as a speaker and panelist at local and national conventions and forums.