New Horizons Hal France’s life in music, arts, education still evolving

By Leo Adam Biga

Omaha music man Hal France has enjoyed a long romance with the city’s opera, symphony, musical theater and broader arts-culture communities.

It may surprise some that as late as age 19, athletics, not music, captured his heart. He studied piano as a child, but by high school chose football and basketball over music. He even worked construction to improve his physical strength. This, despite growing up in “a very musical family” back East. Both parents performed. His father played various instruments. His mother sang. If not for “an epiphany” that turned him back towards music, he might not have pursued a conducting career, much less come to Nebraska.

Once settled here, he’s taken his career in new directions and found a new life partner in Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs executive director Judi gaiashkibos, whose family he now calls his own.

The New Jersey native is an ardent proponent of the talent found in Nebraska.

“It’s been a very nurturing envi- ronment for some pretty exceptional talent,” France said, referring to Nebraskans who’ve gone on to fame in music, theater, dance, film, television.

If you know his name, it’s likely from his decade (1995-2005) as Opera Omaha artistic director or four years (2008-2012) as Kaneko’s founding executive director. Since 2019 he’s been an instructor of