
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 15, 1994                   TAG: 9406220044
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By JOE KENNEDY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OPERA DIRECTOR RESIGNING

Opera Roanoke's first full-time paid employee - and the mainstay of its administration - has decided to leave her job, effective July 29.

Judith Clark, the opera's executive director since 1989, said she is proud of the opera's progress but that her job has been ``very draining.'' She plans to take some time off before embarking on another project, combining music and education, in the fall.

During Clark's tenure, the opera evolved from an amateur company to a fully professional organization staging operas from the classical repertory, often in their original languages. It featured young singers from New York, full orchestral accompaniment and artistic direction from Victoria Bond, the conductor of the Roanoke Symphony. Craig Fields, a music faculty member at Virginia Tech, is the company's resident director.

The opera has played to sellout audiences at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke and Olin Theater at Roanoke College in Salem, but those halls are small - and that, Clark said, is limiting the opera's growth.

J. Tyler Pugh, a brokerage executive who is a board member and past president of the board, said Clark ``has literally lived the opera for the last five years. We're all sorry to see her go.'' But, he said, ``I know it's been a real job, a big job. Any time you have a company that's been growing like we have ... that takes its toll.''

by CNB