Opera News

Risk-taking Fort Worth Opera leader suddenly departs after 16 years

There seems to be some confusion over at Fort Worth Opera. On February 13, the Fort Worth Star-Telegramreported that the company's general director for the last 16 years, Darren K. Woods, had been terminated. Woods says in the same article that he asked to leave.

FWO board chairman Mike Martinez told the paper that they will be seeking to hire a new general director who will "focus more on business and management ... to be creative with the fundraising and development aspect. We just didn’t feel Darren could provide us with that leadership from that aspect."

The search for a new artistic director begins immediately, though seasons are planned until 2020.

A statement from the FWO board of directors was released shortly after the article posted online. In it, Woods' artistic vision and contributions are praised but the need for stronger financial support is repeatedly stressed.

"The new economic times within which we find ourselves present unique challenges that call for a fresh perspective and an innovative approach to an aging business model. After months of discussion, the Board of Directors has decided the best thing for all parties is to build on the artistic foundation we have forged together, while allowing each of us to grow and meet new challenges."

For his part, Woods tells the Star-Telegram that "I think it’s best I go a different direction with my life. I have wanted to go into a little bit different direction, where I am dealing more with new music, librettists, singers ..."

Woods is also artistic director and new music specialist at the Seagle Music Colony in central New York, and he expressed a desire to be able to spend more time there. He tells the Star-Telegram that he is unsure whether he will remain in Fort Worth. On his Facebook page, he posted, "I have been told not to post on social media but I just want to say thank you to all of you for the love you have given me. I am so blessed."

During his time with FWO, Woods championed new works and revived the festival format that the company has been using since 2007. Last year's highly publicized and critically lauded opera JFK, by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek, was only the latest in a series of world premieres commissioned and programmed by Woods; others include Thomas Pastieri’s Frau Margot (2007), Jorge Martín’s Before Night Falls (2010), and Daniel Crozier and Peter M. Krask’s With Blood, With Ink (2014).

The regional premieres of Angels in America, Dog Days, Glory Denied, Dead Man Walking, and Silent Night, along with the first Fort Worth productions of Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw and Philip Glass' Hydrogen Jukebox, furthered Woods' risk-taking cred.

He also introduced the Frontiers program, which showcases 20 minutes of new works in progress. The 2017 Frontiers lineup was recently announced, and participating works range from a doomed love triangle to stories inspired by Sherlock Holmes and Edgar Allan Poe to an opera that follows the search for Colombia’s most notorious cocaine trafficker, Pablo Escobar.

TheaterJones reports that after the 2016 opera festival, which included JFK, the Fort Worth Opera had a large budget shortfall and began a campaign to raise $1 million in a matching grant, which it achieved.

Fort Worth Opera chairman emeritus Jill Fischer closes the statement by saying, "Fort Worth and Darren K. Woods were made for each other — they both combine a love for the arts with a determination to do things their own way. I thank Darren for the passion and energy he brought to the Fort Worth Opera for the past 16 years. We both may be turning a page, but our stories will be forever intertwined. Thank you, Darren."

A scene from Fort Worth Opera's 2016 world premiere of JFK.

Photo by Karen Almond

A scene from Fort Worth Opera's 2016 world premiere of JFK.

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Ancient Sculpture News

Fort Worth museum one of only 3 in U.S. to get rare sculpture exhibit

Lorenzo di Masi/Torlonia Collection

The Torlonia Nile

A major exhibition of ancient Roman masterworks is coming to the U.S. for the first time to be viewed at only three museums — including the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

Called Myth and Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection, it's an assemblage of works stewarded by the Torlonia Family beginning in the early-19th century, and will be installed at the Kimbell from September 14, 2025 – January 25, 2026.

As part of the Foundation’s mission to showcase these historical works to the public, the exhibition will premiere at the Art Institute of Chicago on March 15 through June 29, before traveling to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Its third stop will be at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, from March 14 - July 19, 2026.

The Torlonia Collection was established during the course of the 19th century by the Franco-Italian banker Prince Giovanni Torlonia and his son Alessandro, then handed down over generations, eventually growing into the largest private collection of ancient Roman sculptures.

Today, the Torlonia Foundation represents the culmination of the Family’s continued passion for art. Created at the behest of Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1925–2017), the Foundation’s mission is to preserve and promote the Torlonia Collection and Villa Albani Torlonia.

In 1876, Prince Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1886) created a museum to house and exhibit the Family’s holdings, which was open to small groups until its closure at the onset of World War II. The sculptures remained unseen by the public from that time until the Foundation’s first exhibition at the Musei Capitolini in Rome in 2020. That was followed by a stint at the Louvre, the first presentation of the collection outside of Rome, where it has drawn more than 600,000 visitors to date, an unprecedented feat.

The exhibit
The curators of Myth & Marble: Ancient Roman Sculpture from the Torlonia Collection are Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff of the Art Institute of Chicago. The exhibition is co-organized by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, in collaboration with the Kimbell Art Museum, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and The Museum Box. All of the sculptures in the exhibition have been restored by the Foundation with the support of Bvlgari.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue co-published by the Art Institute of Chicago and the Torlonia Foundation, edited by Lisa Ayla Çakmak and Katharine A. Raff, with essays by Silvia Beltrametti and Salvatore Settis.

The North American presentation will feature 58 highlights from the Torlonia Collection, including 24 newly restored works that have not been on view in nearly a century. The sculptures date from approximately the 5th century BCE to the early 4th century CE, with the majority of the works dating to the High Imperial period (1st–2nd centuries CE). Highlights include examples of the most emblematic genres of ancient marble sculpture, acquired by the Torlonia Family from the most prominent collections of Rome’s patrician families, as well as from excavations made on the Family’s own estates throughout Italy.

“The Foundation is excited to be sharing the Torlonia Collection with audiences in North America for the first time. This exceptional group of ancient sculptures is a testament to the enduring cultural legacy of ancient Rome, as well as the vision and passion of multiple generations of the Torlonia Family,” said Alessandro Poma Murialdo, President of the Torlonia Foundation.

The presentation is organized thematically in six sections, featuring sculptures found on the Torlonia Family’s properties in Rome and the surrounding suburbs and their estate in Porto, Portugal, as well as a number of exceptional sarcophagi (stone coffins), among the largest sculpted works in marble to survive from ancient Rome.

The tour reinforces the work of the Foundation to advance the appreciation and understanding of this unparalleled collection and the rich cultural heritage it represents. The Foundation’s mission is carried out through a continuous joint effort between the public and private sectors, including with the cooperation of the Italian Ministry of Culture. The Foundation is supported by a longstanding collaboration with Bvlgari as the principal sponsor of the restoration project since its inception in Rome and throughout the global tour, and Chiomenti, who has lent invaluable support to the Foundation’s core activities.

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