OPERA America, the national service organization for opera, announced that Seattle Opera Chairman of the Board John Nesholm has received the 2015 National Opera Trustee Recognition Award. The award, now in its eigth year, honors individuals for exemplary leadership, generosity and audience-building efforts on behalf of their respective opera companies.
Aidan Lang, Seattle Opera’s new general director, said, “The support and leadership of John Nesholm stands alone in our company’s history. No other donor has been as generous with their time, expertise, and gifts to the organization.”
Nesholm has done more than support and lead the Seattle Opera; he helped reshape the cultural landscape of Seattle itself. His firm, LMN Architects, served as lead architect for Benaroya Hall, home of the Seattle Symphony. He helped transform Seattle Opera’s performing arts space into the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall and he also worked with world famous architect Rem Koolhaas on the award-winning Seattle Public Library. Within the opera organization, he previously served as board president before becoming chairman. He’s worked on the facilities committee, finance committee, and governance committee, and has presided over the company’s annual meetings for more than a decade.
He won this year’s 2015 National Opera Trustee Recognition Award along with James H. McCoy of Hawaii Opera Theatre, Sue Bienkowski, of Long Beach Opera, and Frank Kuehn of Opera Southwest.