Maria Callas opened the Dallas's first season with an inaugural recital. She returned the following year to perform in La traviata, one of her infrequent performances in the United States.
Many singers have made their American debut in Dallas, such as Montserrat Caballé, Plácido Domingo, Gwyneth Jones, Waltraud Meier, Magda Olivero, Joan Sutherland, and Jon Vickers. Designer/director Franco Zeffirelli also made his US debut there. Dallas also has helped launch the careers of such American singers as Renée Fleming, Diana Soviero, and Ruth Ann Swenson.
The music director of the Dallas Opera is the Englishman Graeme Jenkins, who has occupied the post since 1994.
The Dallas Opera commissioned a new American work, Dominick Argento’s The Aspern Papers and gave its world premiere, which was nationally broadcast to four million viewers on PBS' “Great Performances” series in 1988.