"Adam Turner named Virginia Opera's youngest artistic director"
By April Phillips, Correspondent, Mar 22, 2018
Image Courtesy of Virginia Opera

Adam Turner has been a fixture of Virginia Opera for so long, it’s easy to forget that for a man in his position – the new artistic director – he’s still really, really young.

Regular patrons of Virginia Opera know that Turner came to the company eight years ago as resident conductor and chorus master. For the past four years he has been principal conductor, so it seems only natural that he was named this month to lead the organization as artistic director beginning with the 2018-2019 season.

“I’m the youngest artistic leader in the history of Virginia Opera,” Turner, 35, acknowledged.

“I say it with all humility, and I’m honored to be given the vote of confidence,” Turner said.

His relative youth may be a selling point for an art form always struggling to appeal to new audiences. However, Turner isn’t planning on taking the company in any radical directions.

“We are always striving to find the balance between seasoned opera goers and the younger generation. That’s always in the forefront of my mind,” Turner said.

He said he will uphold Virginia Opera’s First of Firsts initiative, in which the company begins the season with a work it has never performed before as a company. These often are new works that audiences are unfamiliar with. In the 2018-19 season that will be Kurt Weill’s “Street Scene,” an American opera. The season also will bring fan favorites such as “Don Giovanni” and “Madama Butterfly.”

“My personal mission is to continue to challenge ourselves as a company in every production,” Turner said.