Loving v. Virginia

Loving v. Virginia, Damien Geter (2024)
an opera in two acts

Music by Damien Geter
Libretto by Jessica Murphy Moo

A young couple’s interracial marriage in 1958 sparks a case that leads to the Supreme Court and a victory for civil rights in the United States. This operatic retelling is based on the true story of Mildred and Richard Loving.

Commissioned by Virginia Opera and the Richmond Symphony

Orchestral instrumentation: 2.2.3.1/3.2.2.0/timp. 3 perc/gtr/strings
Orchestral performance parts are available via rental.

Click here for a rental quote.

Sheet music is licensed on a per-copy basis. Accordingly, please purchase vocal scores equal to the number of performers you will have. Failure to do so is a violation of copyright law. 

“Geter and Murphy Moo’s new work is a stunning achievement – A wedding of painful historic facts and art into the queen of all art forms – an opera – and this time one about us Virginians, in all our bigotry and glory.”  – Daily Press

“The Richmond Symphony, under the direction of Adam Turner, was excellent in its playing of the highly varied requirements of Geter’s score.” – DC Theater Arts

“This is an exceptional opera that deserves and needs to be seen.  The Supreme Court’s decision represented a growth spurt for American democracy, but the Lovings expressed what it meant in human terms; they asked only that they be allowed to live together with their family in Virginia.” – OperaGene

“Jessica Murphy Moo crafted a libretto that includes all of the relevant points of the story, while humanizing the characters and allowing moments of emotional expansion, so crucial to a good opera...Geter has woven music in vernacular styles—blues, rock, and spirituals—into this score yet in ways that felt organic and logical.” – Washington Classical Review