Kathy Magiera, 54; Led Seattle Opera Out of Financial Crisis

Kathy Magiera, 54, who took over the administrative reins of the Seattle Opera at a time of financial crisis, stabilized its budget and oversaw its move into a new opera house, died Saturday in Seattle after a long battle with cancer.

Magiera did not plan on a career in opera management. A native of Omaha who graduated from Indiana’s Butler University as a dance major, she followed a man she was dating to San Diego in the early 1970s and soon found herself working for the San Diego Opera.

She began as a secretary, and by the end of six years was director of administration. By 1983 she was ready to move on, and was hired as administrative director of the Seattle Opera.

She won praise for leading the opera to financial solvency with a plan that required the company to go without expensive new productions for three consecutive seasons, relying instead on new takes on borrowed or remounted productions.

She also helped the company win a National Arts Stabilization grant, which meant eliminating its deficit and establishing a long-range plan.

In October she was named an “Unsung Hero” by the Seattle Corporate Council for the Arts for her leadership of the opera.

A stage at Seattle’s new opera house will be named the Kathy A. Magiera Stage as the result of a $1-million gift in her honor from philanthropist Marion Oliver McCaw Garrison.