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Virginia Opera is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia which was first organized in 1974 by a group of Norfolk, Virginia community volunteers.
In September 1974, Thomas A. Lipton was engaged to produce a fully professional production of Puccini's LA BOHÈME to ascertain the prospects for successful establishment of an professional opera company for the Virginia Opera Association. Lipton had been recommended to VOA president Edythe Harrison by the late David Baber, director of the National Opera Institute, a part of the National Endowment for the Arts music promotional program.
Within the next five months, Lipton hired the conductor John Edward Niles as Music Director and together they assembled a production staff, soloists, chorus and technicians. Auditions were held in New York City and locally. Among others selected by Lipton was Dr. David Farrar.
Following performances on January 25 and 27, 1975, Virginia Opera was launched on a professional basis. The company has an annual budget of $5 million with over 30 performances, reaching nearly 50,000 attendees each season.[ citation needed ]
In March 1994, by unanimous vote of the Virginia General Assembly, Virginia Opera was named The Official Opera Company of the Commonwealth of Virginia in recognition of the organization's contribution to the Commonwealth, and to the world of opera.
Virginia Opera currently presents four productions a year at four major Virginia venues: Norfolk's Harrison Opera House, [1] Richmond's Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage, George Mason University's Center for the Arts in Fairfax, [2] and the Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach. Virginia Opera is the only opera company to perform a full season of operas in multiple mainstage venues and to reach more than 150,000 students and community members each year through its Education and Outreach Program.
Organized in 1974 by founding chair Edythe C. Harrison, Virginia Opera was launched with two productions in the Norfolk Center Theater. Dr. David Farrar was the founding Stage Director and Director of Productions of the Virginia Opera. He was there for twelve years, during which the company experienced a period of tremendous growth.[ citation needed ] Dr. Farrar invited Peter Mark to the company and Mark was appointed Artistic Director, a position he held for over 35 years. He was named Artistic Director Emeritus in 2012. Russell P. Allen, appointed President and CEO in 2011, currently leads the company, returning to Virginia Opera after previously serving six years as General Manager from 1994-2000.
The company's first three seasons were limited to Norfolk. Expansion to Richmond began in 1977 with the encouragement of then-Governor Mills Godwin and Mrs. T. Fleetwood (Anna) Garner, under whose leadership "The Richmond Friends of Opera" was formed to present Virginia Opera productions annually in Richmond. By 1983, the Richmond and Central Virginia Board of Virginia Opera was formed and a Richmond office was opened. In November 1992, the company presented its first mainstage performance at the Center for the Arts at George Mason University in Fairfax.[ citation needed ]
Some of the nation's most promising young singers have appeared on the company's stages and in concert. These have included Luciano Pavarotti, Beverly Sills, Renée Fleming, Diana Soviero, Lawrence Brownlee, Barbara Dever, Jeannine Altmeyer, Ashley Putnam, Cristina Nassif, Frederick Burchinal, John Aler, Rockwell Blake, Randy Locke, Jake Gardner, Sujung Kim, Frank Porretta, Grant Youngblood, Fabiana Bravo, Mary Elizabeth Williams, Nmon Ford, Jeniece Goldbourne, Randall Scarlata, and Thomas Rolf Truhitte.[ citation needed ]
The first few seasons consisted of standard works such as La boheme , La traviata , Tosca , Lucia di Lammermoor and The Barber of Seville , all presented in the 1975 to 1976 period.
Many standard works are still performed, but each season typically contains a variety of operatic styles from different eras. Added to these have been productions of American musicals such as Man of La Mancha (1987), West Side Story (1994), Carousel (1996) Oklahoma! (1997), Sweeney Todd (September/October 2014) as well as several comic operas by Gilbert and Sullivan such as The Pirates of Penzance (1999 and 2022), The Mikado (2001) and HMS Pinafore (2014).
While many of productions have focused on the standard repertory of popular operas which are frequently performed by most companies, Virginia Opera is also noted for its innovative programming of rarer or new works. These are noted below.
The company has produced notable world and American premieres of new works, including most recently American composer Ricky Ian Gordon's Rappahannock County, a Civil War song cycle co-commissioned by Virginia Opera, the Virginia Arts Festival, the Modlin Center of the University of Richmond, and the University of Texas at Austin. Rappahannock County premiered in Norfolk on April 12, 2011, the 150th anniversary of the firing upon Fort Sumter, South Carolina.
Earlier world and American premieres included operas by Scottish-American composer Thea Musgrave, including Mary, Queen of Scots (1975—77), [3] A Christmas Carol (1978—79), [4] Harriet, The Woman Called Moses (1984), [5] and Simon Bolivar (1992). [6]
Amongst some of the more unusual operas performed over 40 years were the double bill of Mozart's The Impresario along with the popular Pagliacci in March/April 1977.
The baroque era has been well represented by Handel's Giulio Cesare in early 1997, his Rodelinda in February 2000 and Agrippina in early 2007. Stagings of some bel canto classics not so often performed in the 1980s such as Bellini's I Capuleti e i Montecchi in Spring 1981, Norma in October 1983 and again in January 1994, along with Donizetti's Anna Bolena in January 1989 reflect a broad approach to the repertoire.
Amongst several of Wagner's operas, The Flying Dutchman entered the repertory in January/February 1996, while Die Walkure followed in the fall of 2002 and again in early 2011.
Richard Strauss is represented by Ariadne auf Naxos in 2014, although it was given several times over the earlier years, and there have been several productions of Salome , the next appearing in January/February 2015. Elektra was given in early 2002.
In addition to the Musgrave premieres, other 20th century American works have included Porgy and Bess several times beginning in 1980; Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors in December 1982 and his The Medium in early 1992; Andre Previn's 1998 A Streetcar Named Desire was seen in February/March 2013; Aaron Copland's The Tender Land appeared in early 1998; and Carlyle Floyd's Susannah was staged in November 2006.
The Glimmerglass Festival is an American opera company. Founded in 1975 by Peter Macris, the Glimmerglass Festival presents an annual season of operas at the Alice Busch Opera Theater on Otsego Lake eight miles (13 km) north of Cooperstown, New York, United States. The summer-only season usually consists of four productions performed in rotating repertory. Glimmerglass is well known for producing new, lesser-known, and rare works, many of which in years past have been co-produced with the New York City Opera. It is the second-largest summer opera festival in the United States, currently led by artistic and general director Robert Ainsley, who succeeded Francesca Zambello in 2022.
Vancouver Opera is the second largest performing arts organization in British Columbia and the largest opera company in western Canada. Its mainstage performances occur in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, other venues in Vancouver and occasionally elsewhere in British Columbia. Vancouver Opera has one of only two professional opera orchestras in Canada. After many regular seasons with four mainstage productions a year, the company saw its first festival season in 2017. Vancouver Opera also runs a school touring and education program, and various community events.
The Edythe C. and Stanley L. Harrison Opera House, also known as the Harrison Opera House, is the official home of the Virginia Opera in the Neon District of Downtown Norfolk on the border of the Ghent Square neighborhood.
Opera Lyra Ottawa (OLO) was a non-profit professional opera company based in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1984 by Canadian soprano Diana Gilchrist after the demise of the National Arts Centre's annual summer opera productions. The company performed fully staged and concert version operas in their original language with French and English surtitles at the National Arts Centre as well as running outreach and young artist programs.
Opera Tampa is an American opera company located in Tampa, Florida, where it is resident company at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts.
Opera Memphis is a Memphis, Tennessee non-profit arts organization chartered in 1956 by a group of Memphians interested in producing regional opera. Charter signatories included noted Memphians Philip Belz and Walter Chandler. Early productions consisted mainly of local singers and local directors. During this initial period the Metropolitan Opera Company toured regularly through the area and performed in Memphis two to three times per year. As the company grew, the performers and directors became more regional and the sets and costumes more professional. By the mid-1970s, Opera Memphis began bringing in well-known singers like Leontyne Price, Beverly Sills, Joan Sutherland, Sherrill Milnes, and Birgit Nilsson to perform in lead roles.
George Street Playhouse is a theater company in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in the city's Civic Square government and theater district and resident at the newly built New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. The GSP is one of the state's most prominent professional theaters, committed to the production of new and established plays.
The Hawaii Opera Theatre (HOT) is the islands' only major opera company established in 1960. The company performs three or more operas in a season. Opera seasons start in October and end in the early summer of the following year. It performs mostly in the Blaisdell Concert Hall, Honolulu.
The Atlanta Opera is an opera company located in the Atlanta metropolitan area. Founded in 1979, it produces mainstage opera productions and arts education programs for Metropolitan Atlanta and the Southeast.
Detroit Opera is the principal opera company in Michigan, US. The company is based in Detroit, where it performs in the Detroit Opera House. Prior to February 28, 2022, the company was named Michigan Opera Theatre.
The Culture of Virginia refers to the distinct human activities and values that take place in or originate from the Commonwealth of Virginia. Virginia's historic culture was popularized and spread across America by Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, and their homes represent Virginia as the birthplace of America. Modern Virginia culture has many heritages and is largely part of the culture of the Southern United States, however, Northern Virginia has become increasingly similar in culture to the Northeastern United States within the past few decades.
The Virginia Arts Festival is a Norfolk-based non-profit arts presenter which serves southeastern Virginia, offering dozens of performances during the spring and throughout the year. Virginia Arts Festival performances have included international ballet companies, along with modern, contemporary, and ethnic dance companies; world-renowned soloists and ensembles in musical genres including classical, jazz, world, folk, rock, blues, bluegrass, country, and pop; opera; theater and cabaret; and collaborative productions with local arts organizations like the Virginia Symphony Orchestra.
Cincinnati Opera is an American opera company based in Cincinnati, Ohio and the second oldest opera company in the United States. Beginning with its first season in 1920, Cincinnati Opera has produced operas in the summer months of June and July with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra providing orchestral accompaniment.
Lyric Opera of Virginia is an opera company based in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its leader is Peter Mark, who was the Artistic Director of the Virginia Opera for 36 years. Although Mark's contract with Virginia Opera was set to expire at the end of May 2012, the Virginia Opera's executive committee terminated Mark on November 18, 2010. In 2003, Virginia Opera's board assigned Mark's administrative leadership duties to Paul A. "Gus" Stuhlreyer, leaving Mark with the titles of music director, artistic director and principal conductor. On January 9, 2011, Mark, Edythe Harrison, and others announced the formation of a competing opera organization to be called "Lyric Opera of Virginia."
The Utah Opera is an American opera company that has been merged with Utah Symphony since July 2002, with a combined audience of more than 150,000 annually.
dell'Arte Opera Ensemble is an opera company in New York City devoted to nurturing emerging singers through rehearsal and performance opportunities, coaching, seminars, and master classes. It was founded in 2000 by opera coach and conductor Christopher Fecteau with the goal of training young opera artists and presenting them in professional productions. Through its Repertoire Development Program, the company features the work of emerging performers, designers, directors and conductors in both standard and rarely-heard masterworks. Several New York premieres have been presented, such as Salieris' "Falstaff," Titus' "Rosina" and Salieri's "La Cifra." In December 2010, the company presented the first performance in New York City of Engelbert Humperdinck's Königskinder since its premiere one hundred years earlier at the Metropolitan Opera.
Harriet, the Woman Called Moses is an opera in two acts composed by Thea Musgrave who also wrote the libretto which is loosely based on episodes in the life of the American abolitionist and former slave Harriet Tubman. The opera premiered on 1 March 1985 in Norfolk, Virginia, performed by Virginia Opera with subsequent broadcasts of the Virginia Opera production on National Public Radio and BBC Radio 3. Musgrave also wrote two shortened versions of the opera—The Story of Harriet Tubman and the concert work Remembering Harriet.
Simón Bolívar is an opera in two acts composed by Thea Musgrave who also wrote the libretto. It is loosely based on episodes in the life of Simón Bolívar, the military and political leader who played a leading role in freeing Latin American countries from Spanish rule. The opera premiered on 20 January 1995 performed by Virginia Opera at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, Virginia. Although the libretto is written in English, the opera was performed at the premiere in Spanish translation. Musgrave extracted a suite from the opera Remembering Bolívar in 1994 and wrote a shortened version of the opera in 2013.
Frederick Burchinal is an American operatic baritone, whose career centered on the works of Giuseppe Verdi as well as verismo opera more broadly. Burchinal is best known for his association with the Metropolitan Opera, and sang with the company for over 22 years.
Opera Columbus is an American professional opera company in Columbus, Ohio, founded in 1981, and is a member of Opera America. OC employs nearly 350 artists and creative professionals annually—vocalists, artisans, stagehands, costumers, and scenic designers—many of whom are members of the Columbus community.