Virginia Opera: Where Legacy Meets Innovation

For nearly five decades, Virginia Opera has stood at the forefront of the Commonwealth’s cultural landscape, captivating audiences with its rich blend of timeless classics and contemporary storytelling. Founded in 1974, the company has grown from a regional ensemble into the official opera company of Virginia—one of only a few in the nation with a four-city mainstage season. With a commitment to artistic excellence, education, and accessibility, Virginia Opera continues to push the boundaries of the art form while honoring its deep-rooted legacy. Whether presenting a grand Puccini production or premiering new American works like Loving v. Virginia, the company proves opera is as vital and resonant today as ever.

We chatted with Artistic Director and Chief Conductor Adam Turner to learn more.

Cultureworks: For those unfamiliar, can you give us a brief introduction to Virginia Opera and its mission?

VA Opera: Virginia Opera recently completed its 50th Anniversary Season, commemorating this historic milestone with the world-premiere of the opera Loving v. Virginia. The company was launched in Norfolk in 1974, began its statewide expansion to Richmond in 1977, and since 1992 has also presented opera in Fairfax, making it the only opera company in the United States with three mainstage venues. In March of 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. The opera exists to bring compelling and artistically exemplary opera performances to a wide variety of audiences, as we strive to nurture this complex art form, the artists who create it, and the audiences who will ensure its future.

CultureWorks: What inspired Virginia Opera to develop the Loving v. Virginia project?

VA Opera: In the early months of 2020, Artistic Director Adam Turner met with Virginia Opera’s Artistic Advisory Committee to discuss future programming ideas and long-range planning initiatives. All of us acknowledged that with our 50th Anniversary Season on the horizon, we fervently hoped to meet the moment with something truly commemorative and historic – something reflective of who we are and where we’re going. How about commissioning a world-premiere opera? And five years might be just enough time to plan! 

Several ideas were floated, but we all agreed to proceed with the firm desire to feature a Virginia composer and a Virginia story. Virginia Opera had touched on local themes previously – particularly in successful collaboration with the Virginia Arts Festival, co-commissioning works like “Rappahannock County “(2011) and “Pocahontas” (2007). But this time, we hoped to uncover something different: a more personal, human story.

Adam Turner recalls: I’ll never forget what followed our meeting: a parking-lot conversation with the former statewide board chair. “The Civil War, Jamestown…we’ve done those stories,” I said. “I wonder if there’s something else. Maybe even something with ‘Virginia’ in the title—a good old-fashioned love story, perhaps.” I told our former board chair I was planning to watch the film “Loving” to see if the story was grand enough to be operatic. And the rest, as they say, is history.

CultureWorks: How did you approach adapting such a landmark Supreme Court case into an operatic work?

VA Opera: Identifying the right composer and librettist for this project was of the utmost importance. Virginia-native composer Damien Geter was selected along with librettist Jessica Murphy Moo; both artists have a deep foothold in historical narratives and areas of social justice.

From the beginning of the commissioning process, together with our Richmond Symphony co-commissioners, we decided that a thorough workshopping process would be integral to ensuring the work’s eventual success. Encompassing nearly two years, we held a libretto workshop, two separate piano-vocal workshops, and an orchestral-vocal workshop – all with the aim of tweaking and fine-tuning the work as it came to life. Through invaluable artist feedback and constructive conversations, we were able to continue meaningfully shaping and refining this new opera throughout the creative process.

CultureWorks: How have audiences responded to this work, especially in communities where the history is deeply rooted?

VA Opera: The response has been overwhelmingly positive across the board. From Hampton Roads and Richmond to Fairfax, audiences have resonated with this powerful and gripping storytelling, even erupting into applause before the final notes have sounded and immediately jumping to standing ovations at all performances. Community talks and panel discussions surrounding the performances have experienced at-capacity attendance, with audience members expressing deep connection to the history behind the storytelling. Several extended members of the Loving family were in attendance for our Richmond performances and were able to visit with members of the creative team and cast afterwards. There’s been such a spirit of joy and optimism surrounding the entire response – in turbulent times, we turn to the arts for hope and solace, and this work has had a profoundly meaningful impact on the communities which we serve.

CultureWorks: The story of Richard and Mildred Loving is powerful and personal. How did you ensure authenticity and sensitivity in its portrayal?

VA Opera: Virginia Opera reached out to the Loving family early on to see if they’d want to participate in the workshopping process, and they declined, which was a perfectly valid choice. We really just wanted to respect their wishes. This also meant we would go with public record documents to piece together as much as we could. Librettist Jessica Murphy Moo made a trip to Caroline County, Virginia, so that she could get a general sense of some of the spaces they inhabited. And then she also did a deep dive into the legal archives. Together with composer Damien Geter, they were able to have a fact checking conversation with Philip Hirschkop, one of the two ACLU lawyers who represented the Lovings and argued their case before the US Supreme Court. One of the challenges of creating an opera about a story that actually happened is that everyone wanted to do their best to get things right because there might be people in the audience who would remember it firsthand. We also wanted to allow ourselves the freedom to imagine some behind-closed-door—and even internal—moments.

Librettist Jessica Murphy Moo: Some of the language grew out of the public record interviews Mildred and Richard Loving had done with the press. At other times we tried to use imagery that would have come from their life in Central Point, VA, the place where they felt they belonged. The Law Chorus language sounds very different. For the chorus, we used language from the warrant for their arrest, their court summons, Virginia’s Racial Integrity Act, Judge Bazile’s sentence. The music in these moments sounds very different as well.

CultureWorks: Why do you believe opera is still a vital medium for telling modern stories like this?

VA Opera: Opera as an artform has the power to unite so many different genres of art – singing, instrumental music, dance/movement, scenic design, lighting, costumes, wigs – all these elements come together through opera. The operatic stage provides a platform for performers to express themselves at full throttle, displaying raw emotion and high stakes dramatic tension. Opera singers have an almost primordial capacity to make maximum impact, with their powerful voices and their profound range of emotional depth.

In stories of social justice, especially of resilience and perseverance, opera has the ability to lift up these important stories. Opera can give voice to those quiet, unspoken emotions, offering a window into the interiority of a character’s thoughts. This kind of storytelling through opera engages our community, amplifying important history and demonstrating a major victory for social justice, having the potential to uplift the spirits of all our audiences.