Townsend Opera, based in Modesto, CA, was founded in 1983 by Modesto native Erik ‘Buck’ Townsend, after a successful international career as an opera singer. In 2007, Buck along with Carl Bengston, Board President at the time, led an initiative to establish second-generation leadership that would ensure the Company’s future and allow it to thrive in its new home at the Gallo Center for the Arts. Through the current leadership, Townsend Opera will continue to present professional productions of great operas and introduce some of the greatest artists and personalities in the field to our community.

Townsend Opera thanks our sponsors for their continued commitment to bringing world class operas and performances to the Central Valley.