Asheville Lyric Opera Puccini's "La bohème" in conjunction with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra. Past performances have included guest singers, conductors and directors who have performed across the U.S. and internationally. Soprano Susan Dunn gave a recital as part of the company's first season in 1999, and in 2001, the company presented Rossini's "The Barber of Seville" with Rockwell Blake in the role of Count Almaviva. The company began touring with their 2003/2004 season and has brought productions to Indiana, Georgia, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia. The 2006–2007 season saw an expansion to three full opera productions along with an "education opera" performance
Benjamin Barber at Albert Schweitzer College (1959) and the London School of Economics (1957). Barber's father, Philip W. Barber, directed the New York City unit of the Federal Theatre Project, which produced plays including "Macbeth" and the Living Newspaper. His mother, Doris Frankel, was a playwright and wrote for television. Barber was also active as a playwright, lyricist (libretto for George Quincy's opera "Home and the River") and film-maker ("The Struggle for Democracy", with Patrick Watson, and "Music Inn", with Ben Barenholtz). Barber died on April 24, 2017, after a four-month battle with cancer. Barber was a Senior Research Scholar at The