Marc A. Scorca

Marc A. Scorca joined OPERA America as president and CEO in 1990. Under his leadership, OPERA America has become one of the most respected arts service organizations in North America. Its membership has grown from 120 opera companies to nearly 4,000 organizations and individuals, and its reach extends to 80,000 annual visitors at the National Opera Center and over 83,000 subscribers across digital channels worldwide.

Through OPERA America’s grantmaking, conferences, publications, advocacy, and other programs, Scorca has fostered significant progress in the American opera field. He has administered over $20 million in grants and prizes to opera companies and artists for audience building, business innovation, civic practice, co-productions, and the development of new work. His investment in professional development programs has created a pipeline of the field’s next generation of administrative and artistic voices. Due in large part to Scorca’s contributions to the organization, OPERA America was inducted into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

Scorca has been a proponent of collaboration across the opera and arts sectors. He spearheaded the construction of the National Opera Center, which opened in 2012, as a home for the industry in New York City for auditions, rehearsals, and performances. He united peer arts service organizations behind the multi-disciplinary Performing Arts Research Coalition and the National Performing Arts Convention (2004 and 2008). He helped establish international agencies for opera, including the Association for Opera in Canada, Opera Europa, and Opera Latinoamerica, which have led to global collaboration on the World Opera Forum (2018 and 2024).

Scorca has served as a member of the U.S. delegation to UNESCO, an officer of the Performing Arts Alliance, and on the Music Advisory Boards of Hunter College (CUNY) and the Curtis Institute of Music. Scorca attended Amherst College, where he graduated with high honors in both history and music.