Pacific Opera Victoria is located in Victoria

Victoria, British Columbia

Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It performs four full productions per season at Victoria's Royal Theatre accompanied by members of the Victoria Symphony

Victoria Symphony

The Victoria Symphony is a Canadian orchestra based in Victoria, British Columbia. It is considered by some to be Vancouver Island's premiere active performing arts organization. Currently directed by Tania Miller - one of North America's first female musical directors - the staff consist of both...

. In their 2009/2010 season, Pacific Opera Victoria expanded to four productions per season and added Saturday matinees.

Founded in 1980, Pacific Opera Victoria (POV) performs a variety of repertoire ranging from standard canon to new pieces. Timothy Vernon is POV's founding artistic director.

Pacific Opera Victoria is notable for constructing its own sets and costumes and retaining its own set construction facilities. It is responsible for several Canadian premieres, including Marc Blitzstein's

Marc Blitzstein

Marcus Samuel Blitzstein, better known as Marc Blitzstein , was an American composer. He won national attention in 1937 when his pro-union musical The Cradle Will Rock, directed by Orson Welles, was shut down by the Works Progress Administration...

 Regina

Regina (opera)

Regina is an opera by Marc Blitzstein, to his own libretto based on the play The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman. It was completed in 1948 and premiered the next year. Blitzstein chose this source in order to make a strong statement against capitalism...

 in 2008, Richard Strauss's

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

 Daphne

Daphne (opera)

Daphne is an opera in one act by Richard Strauss, his 13th opera, subtitled "A Bucolic Tragedy in One Act". The German libretto was by Joseph Gregor. The opera is based loosely on a myth from Ovid's Metamorphoses, and also includes elements taken from The Bacchae by Euripides...

 in 2007 and Capriccio

Capriccio (opera)

Capriccio is the final opera by German composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater München on October 28, 1942. Clemens Krauss and Strauss himself wrote the German libretto...

 in 2010, Lee Hoiby's

Lee Hoiby

Lee Henry Hoiby was an American composer and classical pianist. Best known as a composer of operas and songs, he was a disciple of composer Gian Carlo Menotti. Like Menotti, his works championed lyricism during a time when such compositions were deemed old fashioned and irrelevant to modern society...

 The Tempest in 2004, and Vittorio Giannini's

Vittorio Giannini

Vittorio Giannini was a neoromantic American composer of operas, songs, symphonies, and band works.-Life and work:...

 Taming of the Shrew in 2001.

In February 2000, Pacific Opera staged the world-premiere of Erewhon, the company's first fully produced mainstage commissioned Canadian work. In 2011, Pacific Opera commissioned Mary's Wedding, composed by Andrew P. MacDonald

Andrew Paul MacDonald

Andrew Paul MacDonald is a Canadian composer, guitarist, conductor, and music educator. His compositions have been performed in many countries including England, Norway, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Taiwan, Turkey, the United States and Australia, as well as in Canada by the Toronto Symphony...

 with libretto by Stephen Massicotte

Stephen Massicotte

Stephen Massicotte is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and actor from Calgary, Alberta.-Plays:*The Jedi Handbooks trilogy**The Boy's Own Jedi Handbook**The Girls Strike Back...

based on Massicotte's play of the same name.