News & Reviews

A trunk. A sofa. A dinette set. In the mind of stage director Sam Helfrich, these items represent the three main characters in “A Streetcar Named Desire,” a 1998 opera composed by André Previn and based on Tennessee Williams’ classic 1947 play. The Virginia Opera...

Stage director Sam Helfrich promises that the Virginia Opera Association production of A Streetcar Named Desire, composer André Previn’s treatment of Tennessee Williams’ famous and famously quoted play, will give audiences an “an incredible actress“ in the role of...

One hundred or more years ago, when audiences saw a Puccini opera, it might have been a premiere. The Puccini and Verdi works we're so accustomed to seeing in opera houses today once were new works, and they often generated a lot of controversy. That opportunity has...

In an expansion of its usual four-opera lineup, Virginia Opera will present five operas and one operatically inclined Broadway musical in its 2013-14 Richmond season. Four of the operas — “Falstaff,” “The Magic Flute,” “Ariadne auf Naxos” and “Carmen” — will be...

Virginia Opera continues its exploration of premieres and American works in its 2013-2014 season announcement. Subscriptions are now on sale. The company will open its 39th year in September with Verdi's "Falstaff," a work never before mounted in Hampton Roads. The...

The Virginia Opera has announced its 2013-14 season, which will showcase an impressive slate of notable directors, conductors and singers. "A lot of these people have come to us because Robin has brought them to our attention," said Russell Allen, president and CEO of...

The Virginia Opera Company is making its debut at Virginia Beach's Sandler Center with a real surprise - a brilliant, inventive new staging of "Camelot." Brilliant? Who would have suspected it? Putting the moxie in the medieval is not likely, particularly for such a...

As a large-scale musical, Lerner and Loewe's "Camelot" can get lost in the pomp and pageantry of King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Though an instant hit when it opened on Broadway in 1960, the production was heavy with dialogue and ran for more than four...

It first appeared on Broadway more than 50 years ago with the star power of Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Robert Goulet, setting the story of the legendary King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table to music. Now "Camelot," the award-winning musical, is coming...

Gary Thor Wedow enjoys a wonderfully eclectic repertoire that ranges from early music to fresh off the press. A faculty member at the Juilliard School of Music, he balances teaching with opera and choral engagements. This month, he conducts the Virginia Opera's...