LYRIC OPERA VIRGINIA
You'll LOV ...THE LYRIC!
Conceived and created to provide Virginians a major artistic institution whose mission is to present professional opera and musical theater gems of the classical and contemporary opera and musical theater repertoires in new, fresh and accessible formats appealing to 21st century audiences.
You'll LOV ...THE LYRIC!
Conceived and created to provide Virginians a major artistic institution whose mission is to present professional opera and musical theater gems of the classical and contemporary opera and musical theater repertoires in new, fresh and accessible formats appealing to 21st century audiences.
The Lyric will present its productions at venues including the new SANDLER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS nestled in Virginia Beach’s prestigious Town Center, CHRISTOPHER NEWPORT UNIVERSITY’S FERGUSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS CONCERT HALL in Newport News and the LANDMARK and CARPENTER THEATRES in Richmond and Northern Virginia.
Given the enormous economic growth of Virginia Beach and Newport News over the past decade, with the expansion of their business communities and populations and their thirst for a diverse group of performing arts institutions, the time is right for the birth of this new opera company at these major performing arts venues. LOV will deliver three productions and two added regular annual attractions for all of its audiences.
Given the enormous economic growth of Virginia Beach and Newport News over the past decade, with the expansion of their business communities and populations and their thirst for a diverse group of performing arts institutions, the time is right for the birth of this new opera company at these major performing arts venues. LOV will deliver three productions and two added regular annual attractions for all of its audiences.
Renee Fleming, who began her illustrious career right here in Virginia and who was just recently hired as Chicago Lyric Opera’s Creative Consultant recently commented, “It is time to re-examine the role of an opera house in American communities in the 21st century” and suggested adding American Broadway Musicals to the bread and butter operas of the standard repertoire as a way of expanding audiences.
LOV plans to regularly include Broadway productions with high musical and vocal standards as well as a Jewel Box productions. Jewel Box Operas are shorter, more compact alternatives to lengthy opera productions. They are artistically crafted from the most exquisite musical "jewels" (arias, ensembles, scenes) in each work and staged with costumes, lighting and dramatic intensity -- but without the full-scale expense and length.
LOV plans to regularly include Broadway productions with high musical and vocal standards as well as a Jewel Box productions. Jewel Box Operas are shorter, more compact alternatives to lengthy opera productions. They are artistically crafted from the most exquisite musical "jewels" (arias, ensembles, scenes) in each work and staged with costumes, lighting and dramatic intensity -- but without the full-scale expense and length.
Getting down to Business:
LOV will be staffed by a knowledgeable and experienced group of opera professionals with me as Artistic Director at the helm. I will be supported by an executive director, a marketing director, a development director and other top-notch staffers.
We also plan to include the creation of Business Councils in each market to support and integrate the mission of this new company into the fabric of its business communities. The LOV’s inaugural season’s budget is 2.5 million.
LOV will be staffed by a knowledgeable and experienced group of opera professionals with me as Artistic Director at the helm. I will be supported by an executive director, a marketing director, a development director and other top-notch staffers.
We also plan to include the creation of Business Councils in each market to support and integrate the mission of this new company into the fabric of its business communities. The LOV’s inaugural season’s budget is 2.5 million.
Our 2011-2012 premiere season will showcase:
* It will feature a never-before-seen, grand production of Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA on a Fri-Sun matinee schedule in the fall in each venue,
* Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical THE KING AND I for a more extended run of performances in all three markets in the winter .
* And a Jewel Box production of CARMEN in the spring.
Added to this programming will be two additional evenings which will bring audiences into the exciting process of finding and training the next generation of the world’s opera stars.
* Our DISCOVERY CONCERT will feature my latest and greatest singing discoveries
* Our PUBLIC MASTERCLASS will provide insights into how the voices of aspiring singers can be transformed into gleaming instruments of operatic passion with the help of a master.
* Puccini’s THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST- La Fanciulla
* SOUTH PACIFIC
* And in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner, a Jewel Box presentation from THE RING.
* LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (The Force of Destiny), in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi
* Continue with LES MISÉRABLES
* And conclude with a unique Jewel Box presentation of Leo Delibes’s LAKMÉ.
* Our DISCOVERY CONCERT will feature my latest and greatest singing discoveries
* Our PUBLIC MASTERCLASS will provide insights into how the voices of aspiring singers can be transformed into gleaming instruments of operatic passion with the help of a master.
* An abridged version of Mozart’s THE MAGIC FLUTE is also in the works.
* Our educational outreach will involve the Commonwealth’s school children in THE KING AND I and participate in the 'Minds Wide Open' celebration of Children in the Arts in the spring of 2012.
* Our educational outreach will involve the Commonwealth’s school children in THE KING AND I and participate in the 'Minds Wide Open' celebration of Children in the Arts in the spring of 2012.
Our second season (2012-2013) will feature:
* Puccini’s THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST- La Fanciulla
* SOUTH PACIFIC
* And in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Richard Wagner, a Jewel Box presentation from THE RING.
Our third season (2013-2014) will include:
* LA FORZA DEL DESTINO (The Force of Destiny), in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Giuseppe Verdi
* Continue with LES MISÉRABLES
* And conclude with a unique Jewel Box presentation of Leo Delibes’s LAKMÉ.
For more information, tickets and contributions visit the LOV website at lyricoperavirginia.org.
Our email
lyricoperavirginia@gmail.com.
Our new offices:
1 E. Plume Street, 2nd FloorOur email
lyricoperavirginia@gmail.com.
Our new offices:
Norfolk, VA 23514
Our new mailing address:
PO Box 11592
Norfolk, VA 23517
Our Phone Number:
(757) 446-6666
We've already received some great press!
WAVY-TV
Virginian-Pilot Front Page News
Richmond Times-Dispatch Front Page News
Daily Press Newport News
Washington Post
Dear Maestro Mark,
ReplyDeleteI have read your recent blog entries and find them to be very informative for singers and especially this particular entry about the Lyric Opera Virginia, which is great news for all the singers out there who have yet to work with you professionally (myself included). I have a question for you though about auditions, especially for a company like yours which was created specifically with the idea of re-vamping opera for modern audiences and giving it more vitality; when auditioning for a company and keeping that mission in mind as the one auditioning, should the singer bring their dramatic ideas (which are edgy and new) to the characters arias' that they are auditioning with, even if they run the risk of not performing these arias with the same dramatic schemes as they have always been performed with by singers historically speaking, or, should the singer play it safe and stick with what everyone else does as far as interpretation goes, in terms of dramatic character acting in an audition scenario?
I am asking this, of course, since I have run into this problem in auditions before, where I thought ahead of time that the company was very progressive dramatically speaking and then found out, after my audition of course, much to my chagrin, that the company actually wanted me to give them the very predictable portrayal of the characters (e.g. Queen of the Night/ Zerbinetta/Le Feu) that they expect to see (and have seen from other artists for the past 'x' number of years) instead of my own interpretations of these characters' situations.
Therefore, I am very much looking forward to your thoughts on this and I wish you the best of luck and success with LOV- I am sure with such a wonderful mission, it will be beloved by Virginians in no time!
Yours truly,
Julia Katherine Walsh
Julia,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for writing. You ask a serious and important question. I can only answer for myself. An important aspect of any audition for me -- once I am convinced that a singer can accomplish the vocal, musical, and technical demands of any aria or role, which after all do all relate to established traditions --- is what personal commitment and special communication is relayed by each singer which will reach, integrate, and enhance the audience experience. Once the basic requirements of the role are met, it is the dramatic and emotional "truth" each singer brings to their role that provides the impact, the power and the intensity of the audience's experience. The integration of all of those elements is what opera is all about -- and is far greater than the sum of its indidual parts. That is what I look for in auditions. I hope that begins at least to answer your question.
Peter Mark