News & Reviews

Georges Bizet’s classic tale of forbidden love unfolds on an island fishing village, cloaked in mystique. Pearl fishermen Zurga and Nadir, are old friends who swore an oath to never pursue the beautiful Leila, with whom they are both in love. In preparation for a...

Dorothy Danner has never been one to rest on her laurels. In 2003 she served as stage director for a well-received production of "Die Fledermaus" at Virginia Opera. This weekend, the company is bringing back the light-hearted Strauss operetta, with Danner again...

The Virginia Opera presented a delightful evening of opera favorites this past Thursday evening in the main auditorium of Fairfax City’s striking new Stacy C. Sherwood Center on Old Lee Highway. Soloists Abigail Paschke, Megan Marino, Jeremiah Johnson, and Drew Duncan...

So what was French composer Georges Bizet up to before he staked his claim to immortality on "Carmen" shortly before he died in 1875? A dozen years before, the 25-year-old Bizet was warming up to scale the "Carmen" heights with another opera, "The Pearl Fishers," a...

Considering the popularity of "Carmen," you’d think that Georges Bizet’s other major opera, "The Pearl Fishers," would be at least vaguely familiar. Not really. Many longtime operagoers in this country have never heard, let alone seen, a production. Others know the...

On Oct. 19, Virginia Opera begins its 35th consecutive season performing in downtown Richmond. From 1978-1983, Virginia Opera was sponsored by Richmond Friends of Opera, led by Anna Garner and a group of opera devotees from across the greater Richmond community. The...

When tenor Chad A. Johnson found out he'd be performing in Virginia Opera's production of island fantasy "The Pearl Fishers," he acknowledges having some misgivings. "Many times when they perform 'Pearl Fishers,' it's about showing off a bunch of hunky leading male...

The Virginia Opera’s current production of Georges Bizet’s early opera, Les pêcheurs de perles (The Pearl Fishers) at GMU’s Center for the arts this weekend was a delightful surprise. Spare, yet colorful, active without seeming too busy, the production was given a...

This past Sunday I attended a performance of the Virginia Opera’s The Pearl Fishers at the Harrison Opera House in Norfolk, Virginia. The Virginia Opera is in town for this weekend only, performing Georges Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers at GMU.   Most known for his...

"A world where the erotic, the indulgent, the uninhibited dance boldly with rituals, taboos and superstitions that dare not be transgressed; a dreamland where the fantastical, the ecstatic, the rhapsodic co-exist recklessly. It is a veritable feast for eye and ear...