
James Harp, formerly the Artistic Administrator of the former Baltimore Opera Company and Cantor/Organist-Music Director at St. Lyric Opera Baltimore performed in Baltimore's historic Lyric Opera House of 1894 in the Mount Vernon-Belvedere-Mount Royal neighborhood north of downtown, also the former home of the old BOC along with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and Maryland Ballet Company, now renovated again, renamed and called the Modell Performing Arts Center at the Lyric, in honor of Art Modell (1925-2012), and his wife's bequest to the city's arts and culture scene by the late longtime owner of the Baltimore Ravens professional football franchise. That company had become known for its espousal of American singers and its commitment to education and outreach since its beginnings as the Baltimore Civic Opera Company in the 1920s and under the later sponsorship of the nationally renowned diva and Baltimorean, the late Rosa Ponselle.

The group performed its inaugural season in 2011, bringing opera back to the Lyric Opera House on Mount Royal Avenue after the unfortunate 2009 bankruptcy filing at the beginnings of the recent Great Recession of 2008-2009 of the now-defunct longtime Baltimore Opera Company. Lyric Opera Baltimore was an American opera company based in Baltimore, Maryland.
