Esta S. Busi, Deborah Campbell, Kate Campbell-Strauss, Hoda Chou, Anne Clark, Jamieson M. Cobleigh, Cami Elbow, Jonathan Evans, Schuyler Evans, John Foster, Gordon Freed, Kurtiss Gordon, Kerry Harling, John Healy, Lorie Healy, Doris Holden, Kevin Hutchinson, Marese D. Hutchinson, Elysse Link, Ken Moore, Kathy Moser, Dick Mudgett, Paul E. Peelle, Lee Pershyn, Jim Pistrang, Artemis Roehrig, Steve Tanne, Elizabeth Terp, Elaine Walker, James Walker

Conceived and written by Glen Gordon

Thanks to Dick Stromgren for arranging construction space.

Gratitude to North Amherst Motors for donating construction space.

The Valley Light Opera, Inc., based in Amherst, is a non-profit Massachusetts corporation founded in 1975 by a group of Gilbert and Sullivan devotees. The VLO promotes broad participation and produces fine entertainment. We present a fully staged opera in the fall of each year, and less formal productions in the early spring. Over the years, the VLO has produced all fourteen of the G&S operas, as well as Cox and Box, The Zoo, and Sullivan's oratorio The Prodigal Son. In addition, VLO has performed Rudolf Friml's The Vagabond King, Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld, John Philip Sousa's El Capitan, and Warren Martin's The True Story of Cinderella.

Trial by Jury was last produced by the VLO in 1984.

Beginning in the 1870s, William S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan revolutionized the musical theatre, creating witty, melodic operettas that set a new standard for stage professionalism. Their songs sparkled with melody and clever rhyme, and Gilbert's librettos blended silliness and satire in settings that ranged from pure fantasy to the astonishingly realistic. Producer Richard D'Oyly Carte publicized these shows as "light operas", but by any name, they were musicals--some of the finest the world would ever see. Trial by Jury was their first collaboration. When produced in 1875 it instantly became the talk of London.

The non-profit Amherst Historical Society was founded in 1899 by Mabel Loomis Todd. Since 1916 it has governed the Amherst History Museum, also known as the Strong House, which is located at 67 Amity Street in the heart of downtown Amherst. This 1750s era house is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

We invite you to join us for a tour of our historic home, which is open to the public from March through early December. Knowledgeable tour guides lead visitors through our period rooms, detailing both the vibrant history of the Town of Amherst and the families who have lived in our house. Along the way, visitors will also be taken on a journey from our town's colonial past, through its own industrial age, and into the computer-driven present.

Home | Who we are | Membership | Contacts | Directions | Get involved | Production history | Pictures | Newsletters | Links