Nashville Opera Names Diane Zandstra Senior Director of Development

Nashville Opera announces the appointment of Diane Zandstra as the company's new Senior Director of Development. Prior to joining Nashville Opera, Ms. Zandstra served as Senior Development Officer/Director of Major Gifts for YMCA of Middle Tennessee, and Executive Director of Mental Health Cooperative Foundation. With a robust history of cultivation, solicitation and stewardship of major gifts, Ms. Zandstra's multi-faceted career also included work as Director of Investor Relations for United Way of Metropolitan Nashville as the staff lead for the major giving initiative responsible for raising over $5 million annually.

At Nashville Opera, Ms. Zandstra will steward the institution's portfolio of contributors, including corporations, major foundations and the many individual donors which comprise the Opera's diverse community of supporters. As the company continues to engage the region with dynamic and varied programming, Ms. Zandstra's expertise will be essential to continue to build on the organization's successful Vision 2020 Campaign, which was launched in 2014-2015 to increase revenues to levels consistent with opera companies in similar markets, such as Charlotte and Austin. With Ms. Zandstra's deep connections to Nashville, she will be integral to the design of new partnerships which will continue the company's history of community engagement.

Ms. Zandstra joins a development team that includes Kristin Starling, who joined the company in 2012 from the GRAMMY Foundation, and Claudia McCauley, who joined in 2014, and whose fundraising experience includes Vanderbilt and the Nashville Public Library Foundation.

"We are pleased to welcome Diane Zandstra to our 15-member staff at Nashville Opera," said Noah Spiegel, Executive Director. "She is a well-respected and proven development professional with extensive knowledge and deep appreciation of our art form. I am delighted to have someone of her caliber join the company at this exciting time in our company's history."

She holds a Bachelors of Music/Vocal Performance from Millikin University in Decatur, IL and began her career in Chicago after graduation. Ms. Zandstra has worked in nearly all aspects of the recording industry from performing, managing a 24-hour state-of-the-art recording studio, production and product management for new and multi-platinum selling artists, and as a sales and marketing executive. A Nashvillian since 1996, she still actively performs and is an avid long distance runner.

Nashville Opera, Tennessee's largest professional opera company, is dedicated to creating legendary productions and programs. Among the most successful regional companies in the United States of America, Nashville Opera has presented three different world premiere operas since its inception in 1981. Main stage performances are presented at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center and the Noah Liff Opera Center, playing to over 13,000 people annually. Nashville Opera's extensive education and outreach touring program reaches approximately 25,000 students throughout Middle Tennessee. These projects are supported by grants from the Metro Nashville Arts Commission, the Tennessee Arts Commission, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Judy and Noah Liff Foundation, the Nashville Opera Guild, HCA, and many other corporate and individual supporters.

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