Virginia Opera's Turner honored

Adam Turner, principal conductor and artistic advisor of Virginia Opera, has been selected as the first Julius Redel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellow in a fellowship program of the Kurt Weill Foundation.

The fellowship’s namesake, Julius Rudel, led the New York City Opera from 1957-79 in its artistic heyday. He later served as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and was artistic director of the Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company. Rudel died last year.

The 32-year-old Turner called his selection “an exceptional distinction for which I’m deeply honored. I look forward to the opportunities of the year ahead.” The fellowship, which carries a $10,000 stipend, enables a young conductor to assist in the preparation and performance of a music-theater work by Weill or Marc Blitzstein, an American composer active in the mid-20th century.

Turner will serve as cover conductor to John DeMain in a February 2016 Washington National Opera production of Weill’s “Lost in the Stars.”

Virginia Opera will stage Weill’s “The Seven Deadly Sins” next fall at the beginning of its 2016-17 season. It is scheduled to run from Sept. 30-Oct. 16, 2016 in Norfolk, Richmond and Fairfax. Having the production led by “a conductor bearing a title of Julius Rudel/Kurt Weill Conducting Fellow is an exciting opportunity for our company,” Russell Allen, Virginia Opera’s president and CEO, said in a prepared statement.