Walsh joining Lyric Opera Virginia

Joseph Walsh, currently Virginia Opera's associate artistic director and director of artistic administration, will join Lyric Opera Virginia, the new company led by Peter Mark, as its general director.

Mark ran Virginia Opera when the company first engaged Walsh as an associate conductor in 1995.

Walsh moves to Lyric on June 1, after he conducts the Virginia Opera production of Puccini's "Madama Butterfly," which runs from March 19-27 in Norfolk and will be staged next month in Richmond and Fairfax.

MARCH 15 UPDATE: Margaret "Maggi" George, former marketing director of Virginia Opera and the Virginia Symphony, has been named Lyric Opera's executive director. George, a onetime banker, in recent years has owned and operated The Rhein River Inn in Lexington.