The Robert Hansen NOA Fund
In Honor of Dr. Robert Hansen
NOA President, 1995-1998
NOA Executive Director, 1999-2020
In honor of Robert Hansen's 25 years of dedicated service to NOA, we have established the Robert Hansen NOA Fund to support the newly renamed Robert Hansen Collegiate Opera Scenes Competition as well as other priorities of the NOA. We would welcome a multi-year pledge or an immediate donation to this fund to honor Robert Hansen's service to the National Opera Association.
About Robert Hansen
Robert Hansen is Regents’ Professor of Music and Director of the School Music at West Texas A&M University. He holds degrees from Northwestern University, Boston University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, and did post-graduate study at Cambridge University in England and at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Principal teachers include Robert Gartside, Pattye Johnstone, Nigel Wickens, Richard Miller, and lessons with Pierre Bernac. In addition to being named Regents’ Professor by the Texas A&M System Board of Regents in 2009, Hansen has earned awards for Excellence in Teaching and Research. He sits as a member of the Professional Development Forum of Opera America.
Prior to beginning his career in higher education, Hansen performed widely in opera, musical theatre, and concert, making his professional debut with the Boston Summer Opera. He has continued an active performing career during his nearly 40 years of university teaching, including as tenor soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Amarillo Symphony, and as a soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the Randel Chamber Orchestra. He is an artist member of Chamber Music Amarillo, having performed numerous concerts for that series. His numerous performances on the lyric stage include such diverse roles as Major General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Archibald Craven in The Secret Garden, and Georges in La Cage aux Folles.
He has performed internationally in recital in Paris and in Brisbane, Australia. He has directed over eighty professional and collegiate productions, and was the founding general director of the Red River Lyric Theater, now known as Red River Lyric Opera.
After presenting a production of Milhaud’s Le pauvre matelot at the NOA Convention in Dallas in 1984, he joined NOA in 1985, and has attended every conference since then. He quickly became actively involved in the organization. He joined the Board of Directors in 1987, and served as associate editor and then editor of the Opera Journal before being elected Vice President. He has the distinction of being both the youngest and longest-serving President of NOA. Following a one-year term as treasurer, he became Executive Director in 1999, a position which he held until 2020.
