Sahar Nouri Makes Mainstage Deut as Opera Colorado Sets 2026-27 Conductors

By Daniel Okafor

Sahar Nouri will make her mainstage conducting debut with Opera Colorado in the 2026–27 season. The company's chorus director takes the podium for "The Snowy Day" and "The School for Lovers (Così fan tutte)."

Patrick Summers, a familiar figure on major American podiums, will conduct Verdi's "Macbeth." That gives the Denver company a season split between a rising local force and an established guest.

Who are the new names on the podium?

Nouri has been music director of Lamont Opera Theater at the University of Denver since 2019. She is a conductor and pianist who has worked with some of the most notable artists in the opera industry, and her music-staff credits include San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Dallas Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival, among others.

That's a serious résumé. The mainstage debut, though, is the milestone — the moment a staff conductor moves from preparing singers to leading performances herself.

Summers needs less introduction. He has spent many summers leading music in Aspen, according to the company, which matters in a state where Aspen's festival audiences overlap neatly with Denver's.

What did the company say?

Barbara Lynne Jamison, Ellie Caulkins Artistic Director & CEO, framed both appointments as a matter of local connection. In a statement, she said: "Patrick and Sahar both bring deep connection to Colorado audiences. Patrick has spent many summers leading music in Aspen. Sahar has been an influential force in Denver's classical music scene for over a decade, preparing our singers for the mainstage, and training vocal music majors at the University of Denver. It is exciting to have their talents on the podium this season."

Note the emphasis. The company is selling continuity, not novelty.

Why is Ari Pelto leaving?

Ari Pelto, Opera Colorado's first music director, will depart the company after more than a decade. His exit follows his appointment as music director and chief conductor of the Sacramento Philharmonic & Opera.

Pelto's departure leaves a structural gap, and the company has not named a successor music director. Instead, the 2026–27 season distributes the podium between Nouri and Summers — a guest-plus-insider model that many mid-sized American companies now prefer to a single resident maestro.

For Nouri, the season doubles as an audition of sorts. A decade of preparing Denver's choruses and coaching vocal majors at the University of Denver now converges on two mainstage assignments. If the debuts land, the question of who fills Pelto's title may answer itself.