VCU Opera

VCU Opera has earned awards from the National Opera Association:

Opera Production Competition

• First place, Gilbert & Sullivan’s “The Gondoliers”
• First place, Gian Carlo Menotti’s “The Old Maid and the Thief”
• Second place, Ingelbert Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel”

Opera Scenes Competition

• Third place, Georges Bizet’s “Carmen,” quintet scene

VCU Opera is dedicated to casting undergraduate students in roles tailored from the mainstream repertoire. Holding the longest continuous tradition of annual opera productions in Virginia, VCU Opera presents two major performances each year: a fully staged showcase of opera scenes and arias, followed by a grand production in collaboration with the VCU Symphony. Oftentimes, traditional, full-scale productions are crafted using an extensive collection of historic costumes, wigs, and period props.

Grounded in a holistic approach to training the complete “singer-actor,” VCU Opera prepares students to excel at the highest levels of the profession. Program alumni frequently earn scholarships to top conservatories and graduate programs, secure places in elite summer festivals worldwide, and gain appointments as Resident Artists with regional opera companies. Many have built distinguished careers performing on the stages of the world’s leading opera houses.

Between 2011 and 2015, VCU Opera earned four national awards from the National Opera Association (NOA). Recognized for outstanding collegiate productions, the ensemble took 1st place honors for Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief and Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Gondoliers, 2nd place for Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel, and 3rd place in the NOA Opera Scenes Competition.

Building on a rich legacy established by founder L. Wayne Batty in 1950, VCU Opera flourished for four decades under the guidance of Melanie Kohn Day (from 1983 to 2023). Dr. Kenneth Wood further enriched the program as Co-Director and Stage Director from 2008 to 2025. Today, the ensemble enters a new chapter under Daniel Myssyk, who took the helm in 2026 as Producer and Music Director.

VCU Opera offers fully staged productions appropriately cast for undergraduate singers and presents them in collaboration with the VCU Symphony with costumes and scenery in period style.

• “The Tender Land” – Aaron Copland
• “Cendrillon” – Jules Massenet
• “A Little Night Music” – Stephen Sondheim
• “Tartuffe” – Kirke Mechem
• “The Secret Marriage” – Domenico Cimarosa
• “Die Fledermaus” – Johann Strauss
• “Suor Angelica” – Giacomo Puccini
• “Gianni Schicchi” – Giacomo Puccini
• “Dialogues of the Carmelites” – Francis Poulenc
• “The Marriage of Figaro” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• “La Cenerentola” – Gioacchino Rossini
• “Tales of Hoffmann” – Jacques Offenbach
• “Old Maid and the Thief” – Gian Carlo Menotti
• “The Merry Widow” – Franz Lehár
• “Little Red Riding Hood” – Seymour Barab
• “The Impresario” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• “Così fan tutte” – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• “The Mikado” – Gilbert and Sullivan
• “Hansel and Gretel”– Engelbert Humperdinck
• “Amelia Goes to the Ball” – Gian Carlo Menotti
• “The Magic Flute” –  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• “The Pirates of Penzance” – Gilbert & Sullivan
• “La Cambiale di Matrimonio” – Gioachino Rossini

In addition to conducting full-scale opera productions, VCU Opera strives to train students in all aspects of the genre. The following are among the variety of subjects addressed in the program:

• Production and role study
• Aria study
• Stage and special-effects makeup
• Stage combat
• Techniques for auditions and competitions
• Creating a character
• Résumé and headshot preparation
• Dramatic improvisation
• Recitative workshops
• “Great Voices of the Past” workshops
• Period movement
• Technical theatre training
• Monologue preparation
• Guest artist masterclasses and workshops
• Backstage at the Virginia Opera field trips

• Thomas Moser – VCU alumnus, Vienna Staatsoper
• Fabiana Bravo – auspices of Virginia Opera
• Barbara Dever – Metropolitan Opera, auspices of Virginia Opera
• Maestro Peter Mark – former artistic director, Virginia Opera and Lyric Opera of Virginia
• Maestro Dan Saunders – conductor, Metropolitan Opera
• Maestro Joseph Walsh – former associate artistic director, Virginia Opera and Artistic Director, Lyric Opera of Virginia
• Thomas Truhitte – auspices of Virginia Opera
• Matthew Burns – VCU alumnus and house bass-baritone, New York City Opera
• Pamela Armstrong – VCU alumna, Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera
• Shirley Verrett – world-renowned artist
• Nico Castel – world-renowned artist and principal diction coach and character tenor, Metropolitan Opera
• Peter Atherton, Ph.D. – director of Opera Studies, Chapman University (Los Angeles) and Operafestival di Roma
• Karen Knight – resident artist and guest director, Sight and Sound Millenium Theatre
• Glenn Winters, Ph.D. – Education Outreach Director, Virginia Opera
• Richard Harrell – Juilliard Opera Center, San Francisco Opera, director of opera at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• Chris Burnside – Chair, VCU Department of Dance and international choreographer
• Professor Emeritus Elizabeth Weiss Hopper, VCU Department of Theatre, Chair of Costume and Makeup
• Arlene Shrut – internationally acclaimed coach-accompanist
• Elizabeth Vrenios  –  nationally acclaimed soprano and stage director
• Martin Hurt – prominent opera and Broadway singer and NYC pedagogue
• Albert Sherman –  internationally known stage director for many opera companies
• Andrew Chugg –  Director of Artistic Administration, Virginia Opera
• Dorothy Danner –  acclaimed Broadway actress and opera stage director
• Delores Ziegler – world-renowned mezzo-soprano

Graduates of the VCU Opera program are enjoying successful careers singing in such opera houses as:

• Avignon Opera, France
• Baltimore Opera
• Brevard Music Festival
• Bologna Opera, Italy
• Bordeaux Opera, France
• Boston Lyric Opera
• Chautauqua Opera
• Chicago Lyric Opera
• Chinese National Opera
• Geneva Opera, Switzerland
• Glimmerglass Opera
• Glyndebourne Opera, England
• Houston Grand Opera
• Lake George Opera
• La Monnaie, Brussels
• Lausanne Opera, Switzerland
• Los Angeles Opera
• Marseille Opera, France
• The Metropolitan Opera
• Neue Opernbühne, Berlin
• New Orleans Opera
• New York City Opera
• Operafestival di Roma, Italy
• Opera Pacific
• Palm Beach Opera
• Paris Opera: Opera Bastille and Palais Garnier
• Pegasus Opera, Portugal
• Pittsburgh Opera
• Portland Opera
• Sarasota Opera
• Scottish National Opera
• Spoleto Festival
• St. Louis Opera Theatre
• Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris
• Teatro di Regio, Italy
• Toulouse Opera, France
• Tri-cities Opera
• Utah Opera
• Vienna Staatsoper
• Virginia Opera
• Wolf Trap Opera