What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 5pm Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm

Charlottesville Opera

Amplifying the human voice. Cinderella 🪄 June 26 - 28, 2026
Barber of Seville 🪒 July 17 & 19, 2026

In 1978, a group of Charlottesville musicians, began to present chamber performances at the home of President James Monroe, Ash Lawn-Highland. These performances became the Ash Lawn-Highland Opera Festival, which grew dramatically after Judy Walker became the General Director in 1987. At that time, the festival began performing full-length operas and musical theater productions in the historic hom

e’s boxwood gardens. Over the years, with the support of Ash Lawn-Highland’s owner, the College of William & Mary, the festival grew and flourished. In 2002, the Ash Lawn Opera Festival Foundation was independently incorporated with the mission of performing opera and musical theater, developing young artists and administrators for professional careers in opera, and providing educational programs in opera. In the summer of 2009, Ash Lawn Opera relocated its performances to The Paramount Theater on the Downtown Mall in Charlottesville, allowing the company to grow even further artistically and professionally. With the hiring of Michelle Krisel as General Director in 2010, complete with over thirty years of experience in the national and international world of opera, including 14 years as the Special Assistant to Plácido Domingo at Washington National Opera and seven years as the Director of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program, the Board of Directors set a goal to become one of the finest small opera companies and summer opera festivals in the United States. In recent years, the company has partnered with a number of other local arts groups, including the Oratorio Society of Virginia, the Wilson School of Dance, the Virginia Consort, the Virginia Festival of the Book, and Charlottesville Ballet. Not only that, but it has expanded its season to include winter and spring performances. In 2015, the company further expanded its professional staff to include Kevin O’Halloran as Executive Director with Michelle Krisel continuing as Artistic Director. O’Halloran brings more than 20 years of fundraising and nonprofit management to the team. In 2017, in honor of its fortieth anniversary as the area’s premier opera company, Ash Lawn Opera became Charlottesville Opera. The new name signals our dedication the local community and recognizes the distance it has come. Martha Redinger, President of Charlottesville Opera, said, “We’re proud of our heritage, and we thank all those who built and supported Ash Lawn Opera through the years. We’re pleased to be able to signal our progress and professionalism with our new name: Charlottesville Opera.”

Photos from Charlottesville Opera's post

06/06/2026

Your summer, fully scored. 🎵 Swipe to see everything we have in store. ☀️

06/04/2026

👑 Bring your little royal to FestivALL at Ting Pavilion on June 7 for Charlottesville Opera’s kids costume contest — free to enter and starting at 5:45 PM.

🎁The winner will receive a family four-pack of tickets to our summer production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. 🎟️

Judged by soprano and Fairy Godmother Alyson Cambridge and NBC29’s Erin Brown. ✨

06/01/2026

The summer season starts here. Join us on June 4 at 11am at Farmington Country Club for an intimate opening aria concert featuring this year’s Ader Emerging Artists — your first chance to hear all of them share a stage, and to get to know the voices that will define Charlottesville Opera’s summer ahead.

🗓️ June 4 | 11am
📍 Farmington Country Club
🎟️ Get your ticket at the link in bio.

05/29/2026

Looking for fun for the whole family? Look no further than the Arts For All FestivALL! Our partner organizations will have tons of hands-on activities like a Princess Meet and Greet, musical instrument “petting zoo”, ballet lessons, a human xylophone demonstration, a royal costume contest, and plenty of other arts, crafts, and games.

📅 Sunday, June 7
📍 Ting Pavilion
🎪 Activities start at 5 PM
🎶 Concert starts at 6 PM
🎟️ FREE

Thank you to our activity partners!

Band

Hummingbird Art Love

05/22/2026

To celebrate that we are just ONE MONTH away from the start of our summer mainstage productions, today only (Friday, May 22nd) tickets for our summer productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (June 26, 27 & 28) and Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (July 17 & 19) at The Paramount Theater are 10% off.

Use the link in bio to purchase with the discount!

05/21/2026

Art belongs to everyone, and we’ve spent years proving it. Can’t wait to do it again at this year’s Arts For All Festivall ✨

📅 June 7
📍 Ting Pavilion
🎪 Activities start at 5 PM
🎶 Concert starts at 6 PM
🎟️ And the best part? It’s completely free.

05/16/2026

This is what Charlottesville summers are made of.
Join us June 7th at Ting Pavilion for The Arts for All FestivALL — a free family music festival featuring hands-on arts activities from eight local organizations starting at 5pm, followed by a concert that’s anything but small: a full orchestra, more than 70 singers, and ballet dancers taking the stage together for an unforgettable night of Broadway favorites and opera classics.

Presented in partnership with Charlottesville Ballet, Charlottesville Symphony, and The Oratorio Society of Virginia. Free and open to all.

05/07/2026

The shows have closed, but the conversation is still with us.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for the post-show panels — composer Patrick Soluri, librettist Deborah Brevoort, stage director Doug Scholz-Carlson, assistant director Benjamin Boucvalt, historian Rick Britton, and the panel moderator and musicologist Amanda Paruta. Plus our extraordinary cast: Caroline Worra, Emily Solo, Heather Johnson, Brian Wallin, Samuel Rachmuth, and Bert K. Johnson — thank you for giving these stories a voice.

And thank you to everyone who came, stayed, and asked the questions that made this weekend what it was. 🖤

04/30/2026

There is something special about an evening that doesn’t end when the curtain falls. One that invites you to linger, to ask questions, to understand the work from the inside out.

This Friday and Saturday, stick around after each performance of Embedded and The Tell Tale Cell Phone for live panels with the composer, librettist, stage director, conductor, historian, musicologist, and cast. Included for free with your ticket to the show.

May 1 at 7:30PM | May 2 at 2:00PM
Gibson Theater at Live Arts | Tickets at the link in bio. 🖤

04/28/2026

A little glimpse from a working dress rehearsal before the curtain goes up this weekend. 👀

Charlottesville Opera’s Wallace Worx brings two contemporary works to The Gibson Theater at Live Arts — Embedded and The Tell-Tale Cell Phone, sung in English and followed by a live panel discussion with the stage director, composer, and creative team.

May 1 at 7:30PM | May 2 at 2:00PM
Tickets at the link in bio. 🖤

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Telephone

+14342934500

Website

https://linktr.ee/charlottesvilleopera

Address

226 E High Street
Charlottesville, VA
22902

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 5pm
Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm