The following is an extended version of the article that appears in our April 2025 issue.
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Virginia Opera’s 50th anniversary season culminates with “Loving v. Virginia.” Performances run May 9-11 at the Carpenter Theatre. Tickets start at $23. (Photo courtesy Virginia Opera)
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Richard and Mildred Loving (Photo courtesy The Estate of Grey Villet)
The story of Richard and Mildred Loving — an interracial couple whose marriage was not recognized in Virginia until a landmark 1967 Supreme Court ruling — is the focus for a new production from Virginia Opera. The culminating performances of the opera’s 50th anniversary season, “Loving v. Virginia” — produced in collaboration with the Richmond Symphony — serves as a thematic trifecta for the organization: It is a Virginia story with music by a Virginia composer and a cast that includes Virginia talent, all punctuating the opera’s commitment to presenting stories of historical and cultural significance.
“We were overdue for a new opera,” says Adam Turner, Virginia Opera’s artistic director and chief conductor, noting the company’s most recent new work was in 2011. “We thought the company’s 50th anniversary would be the perfect moment.”
The organization’s desire to find a historically relevant Virginia-based narrative drew the company to the story of the Lovings. Though the couple married in 1958 in Washington, D.C., their union was not recognized in their home state. They faced persecution and even time in prison prior to their history-making court case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states could not ban interracial marriages. Their experiences were also the focus of the 2016 film “Loving.”
“The story has a lot of profound meaning,” Turner says. “It was crying out for operatic treatment.”
Virginia-born composer Damien Geter and librettist Jessica Murphy Moo were brought in to collaborate on the words and music.
Murphy Moo found herself attracted to the project. “I feel a personal debt to this principled couple,” she says, noting she is also in an interracial marriage.
She traveled to Virginia to conduct research and get closer to the Lovings’ story. Her visits included a local historian, the jail where the couple was arrested, the Library of Virginia, the Rappahannock County archives and the Caroline County Courthouse. She also met with Philip Hirschkop, one of the lawyers who represented the Lovings in the landmark case.
“I drove around to get a sense of the area,” she says. “I also did a deep dive into Virginia’s changing race laws. [Those laws] were very important to their story.”
Geter was familiar with the Lovings’ experiences when the opera floated the idea by him. He felt it was important to honor the couple’s legacy. “I thought it was a great idea for an opera,” he says. “For me, it was a no brainer.”
When Geter and Murphy Moo were brainstorming the themes of the new opera, Murphy Moo realized the law was the conflict in the story. “So, we made that a character — a law chorus that has a particular sound,” she says. “We also talked about the idea of home.”
Virginia Opera partnered with the Minnesota Opera to create the set and costumes for the production.
“We also brought in world-renowned mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves, who was raised in Washington, D.C., to serve as the stage director,” Turner says. “She has been helping us conceive the look [of the show].”
While much of the Lovings’ story is documented through public records, the opera had to imagine and bring to life the personal moments between the couple.
“Opera can afford a performer the opportunity to express inner thoughts through song and performance,” Turner says. “We try to make it as realistic as possible while honoring the integrity of the Lovings and the spirit of optimism and perseverance they exhibited in the 1960s.”
The Richmond Symphony, which is co-commissioning the world premiere, is also passionate about telling Virginia stories. “We were honored to be asked to partner with the opera,” says Lacey Huszcza, the symphony’s president and CEO.
One of the aspects that intrigued Huszcza about the Lovings was their quiet nature. “They were not trying to be civil rights activists,” she says. “What they wanted was to live together and raise their family in Virginia. To have to step out of that comfort zone to make things right is always going to be a relevant story.”
The world premiere of “Loving v. Virginia” is a “heck of a way to commemorate a 50th anniversary season," Turner says.
The Virginia Opera was organized in 1974 to bring arts to the local community and build the Hampton Roads area's prominence in the musical craft. Over the past 50 years, it has become nationally recognized and respected, and was named the official opera company of the Commonwealth of Virginia in 1994.
“Through the 1960s and 1970s we saw the founding of a lot of regional opera companies throughout the U.S.,” Turner says.
The organization expanded its reach to Richmond in the early 1980s and also started traveling to Northern Virginia to perform. “We have been the only opera company in the U.S. that has three different venues in different markets [Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax], making us a true statewide organization. We are on the road all the time,” Turner says.
Over the years, the company has performed a wide variety of operas, everything from “La Bohème” and “The Barber of Seville" to “Oklahoma!” and “Cinderella (La Cenerentola).”
Virginia Opera presents more than 30 mainstage performances per season, reaching nearly 50,000 attendees. “Loving v. Virginia” will serve as the grand finale of the opera’s 50th anniversary celebration. “That is the capstone of the season,” Turner says.
