Directors

Robert L. Larsen
Artistic Director

Robert L. Larsen of Indianola, Iowa, serves as the Artistic Director of Des Moines Metro Opera. As Artistic Director, he gives musical and stage direction to all productions of the Festival. The founder of the Des Moines Metro Opera in 1973, he has coached singers at Tanglewood and Oglebay Park, West Virginia; Chicago and New York, and has assisted in the training of many singers with important operatic careers. In addition to his work as an administrator, teacher, coach and director, he has established a serious and extensive program of operatic training at Simpson College and produces two operas at the college each year.

He was selected as a recipient of the first Governor's Award in Music and the 1999 Iowa Arts Award presented by the Iowa Arts Council for the State of Iowa, and was also the recipient of the Simpson College award for Distinguished Research in 1988. Professor of Music at Simpson College, after having been chairman of the department for thirty-four years, Dr. Larsen holds an undergraduate degree from Simpson, a Master of Music degree in piano performance from the University of Michigan, and doctorate in opera and conducting from Indiana University. His piano studies were with Sven Lekberg, Joseph Brinkman, Rudolph Ganz, and Walter Bricht. He worked as a conductor with Tibor Kozma and Wolfgang Vacano, and with Boris Godovsky in operatic stage direction.

He has appeared as conductor with the Mississippi Opera and the DiCapo Opera Theatre in New York, stage director with the Carmel Bach Festival in Carmel, California, and musical and stage director with the University of Arizona Opera Theatre. For G. Schirmer, he compiled and edited the "Opera Aria Anthology" in five volumes, as well as recordings of piano accompaniments of Mozart arias and Joseph Marx Songs. His edition of coloratura arias was published last year, and his series of anthologies of scenes for opera workshops is scheduled for the fall. During this busy academic year, he completed work on another anthology of arias for Soprano, which is just off the press, accompanied a dozen recitals, directed student productions of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute” and Pasatieri’s “The Seagull”, and leapt into the festival just having prepared forty scenes from opera and musical theater for a May term opera workshop at Simpson.

Thomas S. Smith
Executive Director and CEO

In May of 2006 Des Moines Metro Opera's Board of Directors named Thomas Smith the Company's new Executive Director and CEO. He brings to DMMO more than twelve years of experience in the opera management field and twenty years of appreciation for the art form.

A native of Hampton, Virginia, Tom comes to DMMO from the Cincinnati Opera Association, where he served as Director of Finance for eight seasons. During that time Tom was responsible for managing an operating budget in excess of $6.5 million and an endowment that was valued at more than $15 million. In each fiscal year, Cincinnati Opera was able to finish with an operating surplus. Prior to Cincinnati, Tom spent four years with the Baltimore Opera Company, leaving that organization with the title of Director of Administration.

Tom received a BBA in Finance from the College of William and Mary in Virginia (where he got his first taste of arts administration as producer for the student-run Sinfonicron Light Opera Company), an MBA from the University of Cincinnati, and a Master's of Arts Administration from Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music. He has written and spoken for Opera America on topics including the implications of Sarbanes-Oxley on the opera industry, budget management and insurance issues.

Tom is currently a resident of Indianola, and serves on the Board of Directors for the Indianola Chamber of Commerce. He is also participating in the Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute's Class of 2007-2008.