Charlottesville Opera Announces Interim Artistic Director and 2018 Season

Charlottesville Opera has named Steven Jarvi as Interim Artistic Director for 2017/2018.

"We are thrilled that Steven Jarvi has agreed to serve as Interim Artistic Director," said Kevin O'Halloran, Charlottesville Opera Executive Director. "Steve is well-known to Charlottesville audiences, having conducted our summer opera for the past eight years. His experience as Resident Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and the Kansas City Symphony as well as his many guest conducting roles with opera companies and orchestras around the U.S. puts him in an excellent position to help us build and oversee our 2018 season."

Sue Ann Corell Sarpy, President of the Charlottesville Opera Board of Directors, commented, "Steven Jarvi is an exciting young conductor of operas and symphonies, and he is an excellent choice for Charlottesville Opera. We couldn't be more pleased to welcome him in this new, expanded role."

Mr. Jarvi recently completed his tenure as the Resident Conductor of the St. Louis Symphony and Music Director of the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra. He won the Bruno Walter Memorial Foundation Award while the Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony, and previously served as the Conducting Fellow with Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony in Miami Beach, an Associate Conductor for New York City Opera at Lincoln Center, and the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Conductor with the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center.

Mr. Jarvi was personally selected by Plácido Domingo to be the first conductor ever invited to be a member of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program and frequently collaborates with the finest singers in the world. Recent engagements include the world premieres of An American Soldier and Approaching Ali with Washington National Opera; Orphée (Philip Glass), La traviata, Tosca, The Ballad of Baby Doe, Falstaff, Lucia di Lammermoor, IL Barbiere di Siviglia, Die Zauberflöte, Madama Butterfly, La bohème, Susannah, and Cosìfan tutte with companies such as Virginia Opera, Winter Opera Saint Louis, North Carolina Opera, and Charlottesville Opera.

"It is a great honor for me to expand my role from conductor to Interim Artistic Director of Charlottesville Opera. Charlottesville has become a second home for me and my family over the last eight years, a time of such incredible growth for the company. I am thrilled to continue the extraordinary tradition and vision of my predecessor and mentor, Michelle Krisel. She was kind enough to bring me here with her and taught me so much about opera on all sides of the stage. I am blessed to be working in an organization with such a strong and supportive Board of Directors led by President Sue Ann Sarpy and to work with our great staff and artistic team. It's been a pleasure getting more acquainted with the Opera's wonderful Executive Director, Kevin O'Halloran, and I enjoy working closely with him on what will certainly be a season to remember."

Jarvi succeeds Michelle Krisel who served as General Director from 2010-2014 and as Artistic Director from 2015-2017.

2018 Season Announcement

Charlottesville Opera is pleased to announce its 41st summer season. This July and August, Charlottesville Opera will present Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Sondheim's Into the Woods. "This will be a very special summer," said Interim Artistic Director Steven Jarvi, " as we present Mozart's extraordinary masterpiece, Le Nozze di Figaro and the company's very first production of a Stephen Sondheim musical. I'm looking forward to weaving more into the tapestry of Charlottesville by visiting local schools and hosting events to promote not only this season of great music, but the larger role of Charlottesville Opera as an artistic entity and contributor in the community."

Performances will be held in July and August at The Paramount Theater on Charlottesville's Downtown Mall. Tickets range from $12 to $75 and will go on sale in early 2018. For more information, contact Charlottesville Opera at 434-293-4500, info@charlottesvilleopera.org, or www.charlottesvilleopera.org.

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