Biography

Khori Dastoor has served as the General Director and CEO of Houston Grand Opera since 2021. The fourth General Director in company history, Dastoor embodies an unwavering dedication to the transformative power of art and its role in ensuring civic vitality. With an ardent belief in accessibility, Dastoor has championed initiatives to ensure every member of Houston’s diverse international community has access to fine art, expanding HGO’s programming to cater to multigenerational audiences and extend beyond the theater walls.   

Named one of Houston’s Most Admired CEOs by the Houston Business Journal (2023) and honored as a one of the city’s 50 Most Influential Women by Houston Woman Magazine (2022), Dastoor has secured the largest philanthropic gifts in HGO history since assuming leadership of the company. She also spearheaded HGO’s new partnership with Apple Classical, expanding its reach and sharing its world-class artistry with audiences across the globe.    

During Dastoor’s tenure, HGO has seen growth in subscriber retention, increased single ticket sales, and record revenue. In the 2024-25 season, the company presented its first annual Family Day, a sold-out, relaxed-environment performance of Rossini’s Cinderella, created for multi-generational Houston audiences. Family Day returns in the 2025-26 season, featuring Sasha Cooke in her directorial debut for Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel.  

Other milestone achievements for HGO under Dastoor include the 2023 world premiere of Jake Heggie, Gene Scheer, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar’s internationally acclaimed opera Intelligence; the 2022 original production of The Wreckers, a lost masterpiece by Dame Ethel Smyth that had never been staged by a major America opera company; and the company’s first-ever livestream of a mainstage opera, Joel Thompson’s The Snowy Day, in its 2021 world premiere. HGO has also expanded its public programming initiatives in partnership with organizations throughout Houston.   

Dastoor serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for OPERA America, where she is the Co-Chair of the Learning and Leadership Council. Additionally, she serves on the Greater Houston Partnership Board, the Board of The Sullivan Foundation, and the Advisory Council for the NEC Institute for Concert Artists. She leads industry efforts to identify young talent as a judge for the Richard Tucker Awards, the Sullivan Foundation, the Marian Anderson Awards, the International Zenith Opera Competition, and the Metropolitan Opera’s Laffont Competition.  

Dastoor is a frequent guest lecturer at Yale University, the National Opera Association, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Aspen Music Festival and School, the New England Conservatory, the Juilliard School, the Music Academy of the West, University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, New York’s LaGuardia Performing Arts High School, and Houston’s world-renowned Kinder High School for the Performing Arts. Recently, Dastoor has presented remarks on the essential nature of arts and culture to global leaders from a wide range of industries at such gatherings as the Aspen Ideas Festival, the World Affairs Council, and CERA Week, the premier global energy conference. 

Prior to HGO, Dastoor enjoyed an international singing career and served as a member of foundation leadership at the Packard Humanities Institute and the Wadhwani Foundation before being named the General Director of Opera San José. She received her bachelor’s degree with academic honors from the New England Conservatory of Music and completed her graduate studies at UCLA. She and her husband are the proud parents of two young daughters.