Welcome, Alexis Peart,
Boston Opera Collaborative's New Executive Director
“We are entering a new era of opera where we have the opportunity to re-examine how to make our art form more accessible to our audiences and more equitable to the artists we serve. To be one of the few Black women at the helm of an opera company during this critical time for change is an honor.”
- Alexis Peart, Executive Director
About Alexis Peart
Alexis Peart will join Boston Opera Collaborative as Executive Director, effective September 1, 2022. A multifaceted artist – operatic mezzo-soprano, teacher, and arts administrator – Ms. Peart was most recently the Development and Marketing Coordinator for Guerilla Opera and the Community Engagement and Equity Coordinator for Washington Concert Opera. She will join BOC as it begins its 17th season.
Ms. Peart will be focused on several strategic initiatives for the company: expanding the amount and types of programming the company offers, building new audiences, increasing artist compensation, and bringing a greater diversity of singers, composers, librettists, designers, directors, and board members into the organization.
“We are thrilled to welcome Alexis on board,” said Patricia-Maria Weinmann and Greg Smucker, BOC’s Co-Artistic Directors. “Her unique skill set as a singer, administrator, and fierce advocate for diversity in opera makes her the ideal person to lead BOC at this time.”
In addition to her work with Guerilla Opera, Ms. Peart has worked as an administrator for Washington Concert Opera, Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, and Eastman School of Music. She has worked closely with Boston University, Sigma Alpha Iota, Thompson Street Opera Company, Washington Concert Opera, and Eastman School of Music on their DEIA practices and community engagement programming. In her teaching, Ms. Peart has presented a variety of DEIA-focused lectures and moderated discussions as a part of the 2020 Gender Equity in Music Conference and the SUNY Fredonia Masters in Music Education Program and was a founding member of the Eastman School of Music Black Student’s Union.
“We are entering a new era of opera where we have the opportunity to re-examine how to make our art form more accessible to our audiences and more equitable to the artists we serve.” said Ms. Peart, “To be one of the few Black women at the helm of an opera company during this critical time for change is an honor.”
As a performer, Ms. Peart’s range stretches from baroque to contemporary, with recent roles including Brittomara in Jake Heggie’s If I Were You, Taller Daughter in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up, the title role in Handel’s Giulio Cesare, and Ada Lovelace in the world premiere first reading of Elena Ruehr’s The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage. She has been heard in recordings produced by PARMA and in the recording of Anthony Davis’ X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with Boston Modern Orchestra Project and Odyssey Opera. Ms. Peart is a two-time alum of the Wolf Trap Opera Studio Artists program.
Ms. Peart is a New York State certified K-12 music educator, teaching students throughout Rochester, NY prior to her relocation to Boston. She is also a Teaching Artist with Castle of Our Skins, a Black arts institution based in Boston dedicated to fostering cultural curiosity and celebrating Black artistry through music
Ms. Peart holds a BM in Voice Performance and Music Education from the Eastman School of Music and is completing an MM in Voice Performance with a certificate in Fundraising Management from Boston University.