Bob Boyd

Bob’s earliest operatic memory was in St Louis, when his parents took him to an open-air performance of Victor Herbert’s Babes in Toyland.

Those toy soldiers, the music, the drama—it all was thrilling!” Bob recalls.

Bob grew up in Kansas and Missouri and attended the University of Kansas. After graduating with a degree in petroleum engineering, graduate studies took him to Harvard Business School in Boston.

A lucky set of circumstances after grad school led Bob to be appointed as Staff Director of Oklahoma’s exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadow, N.Y.

“I was the only person who could be asked on Friday night to move to New York City on Monday and stay there for two years!” says Bob.  It was during his time in NYC that Bob fell in love with musical theater.

“It was my job to entertain visiting Oklahoma donors and dignitaries, and taking them to Broadway shows is how I did it. I saw Carol Channing in Hello Dolly;  Zero Mostel in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; and the off-Broadway debut of The Fantastics.

After New York, Bob returned to Oklahoma to work in the office of Governor Henry Bellmon.  When Gov. Bellmon became a U.S Senator, he recruited Bob to come to Washington, D.C. to serve as the minority staff director of the Senate Budget Committee.  Ed Muskie was the Chair.

From D.C. Bob’s career led him to Citibank in New York City, as assistant to the Vice-Chair. His next career move was to Brussels, also for Citibank, and then ultimately to Singapore where he taught in the Graduate Business School of Nanyang Technological University.

Bob continued his active participation in the arts while in Singapore, as President of the Friends of the Singapore Symphony, an organization that produced musical events for the community.

“We invited artists from all over the world to perform,” says Bob. “Wynton Marsalis, Aretha Franklin, and so many others.”

“I love meeting the young folks who sing in our OAI program (Opera Artists Institute),” says Bob.

When not attending Opera Steamboat performances and/or board meetings, Bob enjoys reading, playing tennis, and visits from his daughter and two teenage grandsons.  Bob has been a part of the Opera Steamboat family since 2013.