New details on the Charlottesville Opera’s 48th season

The program for the 2025 season includes “Carmen” by Georges Bizet and “The Pirates of Penzance” by WS Gilbert and Sir Arthur Sullivan.

Leanne P. Clement, general director of the Charlottesville Opera, told The Daily Progress that 2025 will be a big year for both perennials. “Carmen” will be celebrated around the world for its 150th anniversary, and a Broadway revival of “The Pirates of Penzance” is planned for April 4-June 22 at the Roundabout.

Charlottesville audiences have already embraced “The Pirates of Penzance” in performances by local theater companies. The two-act comic opera, known for its clever singing, will likely convince opera purists that it is a good fit for the Charlottesville Opera, Clement said.

“You need a really well-trained voice, but you also need skilled actors,” Clement said. Comedic timing is also important for the cast members of Gilbert and Sullivan.

For the romantics in the audience, the new Duets Concert Series offers a chance to hear real-life lovebirds sing to each other. The first performance in the series, scheduled for 7 p.m. on Oct. 18, will feature pianist Jeremy Thompson with soprano Jeni Houser and tenor David Blalock, two married Metropolitan Opera regulars who rarely get the chance to sing together, Clement said.

“It’s magical when people experience that real chemistry between the singers,” Clement said.

Blalock was seen at the Met last season as a substitute for the role of Pong in Turandot and the season before that sang the role of Gastone in La Traviata. He has sung the roles of the Duke in Rigoletto, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte, Anthony in Sweeney Todd and Macduff in Working with the Macbeths. He has also performed tenor principal in Franz Schubert’s Mass in G and Dan Forrest’s The Dawn from on High at Carnegie Hall.

Houser, who returns to the Met in December as the Queen of the Night in “The Magic Flute,” recently sang the role at the Los Angeles and Dallas opera houses. She has also sung the roles of Lucia di Lammermoor in the opera of the same name, Susanna in “The Marriage of Figaro,” Amy in “Little Women,” Olympia in “The Contes of Hoffmann,” Johanna in “Sweeney Todd” and the Charmeuse in “Thaïs.”

If you’re already making plans for Valentine’s Day, the series includes a concert on February 14 featuring tenor Jack Swanson and soprano Katherine Henly. Two more Duets Concert Series events are in the planning stages, and no dates have been confirmed yet.

Tickets are now on sale for the Charlottesville Opera Gala, an annual charity event taking place at 6 p.m. on October 4 at the Farmington Country Club. The evening, which does not require black tie, includes a full program of musical entertainment, a silent auction and a celebratory meal.

Carlos Ahrens, Rebekah Howell, Shelby Sender, Kevin Spooner and Elise Miller will perform. General admission tickets are $300, with $150 tax deductible. Various table sponsorships are still available at https://www.charlottesvilleopera.org./2024gala.html.

“We are very happy to invite people,” Clement said.

The Charlottesville Opera recently concluded a successful summer season with well-received productions of “The Music Man” and “The Elixir of Love.” Clement said the community’s “continued support” allows the opera company to engage artists of a higher caliber.

“We are in such an exciting period of growth. The Charlottesville Opera is really coming back from the pandemic,” Clement said. “We have retained a lot of really incredible supporters throughout this. This year has felt almost normal, and you could say that there is just a lot of joy in that.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a particularly stressful time for people who sing for a living, as singing has been viewed less as an art form and more as a risky droplet transmission system during the state of emergency. Clement said that the closure of stages during the pandemic has made many music lovers aware of the importance of live performances in their lives, and that it has served to connect artists and donors.

During the pandemic, “singers did exactly what people were most afraid of: sharing their voices,” she said. But this summer, “our ticket sales were almost back to pre-pandemic levels.”