Charlottesville Opera, before 2017 known as Ash Lawn Opera,[1] is an opera company, founded in 1978 in Charlottesville, Virginia. For the company's first thirty years, performances were held in the boxwood garden at Ash Lawn-Highland, the home of President James Monroe. Since 2009 performances have been held at the renovated Paramount Theater in downtown Charlottesville.[2]
Charlottesville Opera currently produces four original productions each season: a semi-staged concert opera in the spring; a full-length opera and a musical in the summer; and a holiday opera in December. In addition to the standard operatic repertoire,[3] Charlottesville Opera's productions have included American musicals and 20th century American operas such as Carlisle Floyd's Susannah,[4] as well as such pieces as Leonard Bernstein's Candide.[5]
Charlottesville Opera also provides a wide range of educational programs for youth and adults; professional training for emerging artists and interns; and seeks to enrich the cultural vitality and quality of life in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region.[6]
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