Fifteen years ago, Artistic Director Eric Smith, had a dream: to form an opera company unlike any other in the region; one that used Baroque practice, like Handel and his contemporaries intended; opera that reflected the environment in which opera was created; luscious and ornate music exquisitely played by a smaller ensemble, performed in an intimate setting where the audience can feel the story and drama of the opera in a new and exciting way. Eric, along with his husband, violist Miguel Cantu and ABOC co-founder, envisioned an opera company based in Dallas that presented works fully staged and performed by musicians and singers who are specialists in the early music field, further establishing Dallas as a leader in the arts in the US. American Baroque Opera Company, based in Dallas, presents both familiar operas and rarely heard gems of the baroque, as fully staged productions, in an intimate style to educate new audiences about authentic early music performance practice.