The Ash Lawn Opera Festival produces opera and other musical performances and performs them at the historic Paramount Theatre in Charlottesville. The Festival provides educational programs for youth, adults, and emerging artists; and seeks to enrich the cultural vitality and quality of life in Virginia and the mid-Atlantic region.

Artistic and Production Staff

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Christopher Larkin, Artistic Director

Christopher Larkin has appeared as a guest conductor with many major opera companies throughout North America. His conducting credits include Washington Opera ( Samson et Dalila, I Puritani ), New York City Opera ( Don Giovanni, La Bohème ), Santa Fe Opera ( La Traviata ), Houston Grand Opera ( Tosca, Roméo et Juliette, Le Nozze di Figaro ), Portland Opera ( Il Viaggio à Reims , Die Entführung aus dem Serail ), and the Ashlawn Summer Festival ( Susannah, Little Women ), among others.

This past year Maestro Larkin made his Wexford (Ireland) Festival Opera debut, conducting Carlisle Floyd's Susannah , a production which The Times (London) called “…the undoubted hit of the festival”. Other recent projects have included Dialogues des Carmélites with Fort Worth Opera, La Fille du Régiment with Cincinnati Opera, Turn of the Screw at Opera Omaha, and Il Barbiere di Siviglia at Utah Opera. This coming season he makes his debut with Florentine Opera, again conducting Il Barbiere di Siviglia .

Maestro Larkin has considerable experience with new works, and has led the world premieres of Mark Adamo's Little Women , Michael Daugherty's Jackie O and the East Coast premiere of Tod Machover's Resurrection at Boston Lyric Opera. He has also worked extensively with young singers in his work with the Houston Opera Studio, Wolf Trap Opera, Manhattan School of Music, Indiana University and The New England Conservatory of Music. For the past several summers he has conducted a program of opera scenes with the young singers at the New National Theatre, Tokyo. This past summer, Marilyn Horne invited him to work with the young singers at The Music Academy of the West, conducting Rossini's Il Viaggio á Reims .

As former Music Director of the New York City Opera National Company, Maestro Larkin has led national tours of Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia . And in his work as Associate Conductor with Houston Grand Opera he conducted the highly acclaimed multi-media productions of Carmen , Madama Butterfly , and I Pagliacci .

Maestro Larkin has also worked as an Assistant Conductor and vocal coach with several major opera companies in North America, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Vancouver Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company.