Virginia Opera

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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 successful, sold out performances on January 25 and 27, 1975, which drew rave reviews and got national attention, Virginia Opera was launched on a thoroughly professional basis as result of the pioneering efforts of Lipton and Niles working with a shoestring budget in a remarkably short time frame. In the ensuing four decades, the company has become known and respected nationwide for the identification and presentation of the finest young artists, for the musical and dramatic integrity of its productions, and for the ingenuity and variety of its education and outreach programs. The company has an annual budget of $5 million with over 30 performances, reaching nearly 50,000 attendees each season.

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 innovative Education and Outreach Program.