VCU news

By Leila Ugincius

Having suffered a paralysis of a vocal fold at a young age, L. Wayne Batty couldn’t pursue a professional career in opera. But that didn’t stop him from bringing opera to the world by teaching hundreds of students during his time in the Department of Music in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts.

Batty passed away last month at 94, but left behind a strong legacy of VCU students and graduates.

“They loved and respected him and kept in touch with him before email and the internet,” said Linda Johnston, administrative director in the Department of Music, who knew Batty first as his student and later as his colleague. “He is a great example of a teacher. He loved his students. He was demanding and could be brutal but it was always because he wanted the students to succeed.”

Upon his retirement in 2007, Batty had taught at VCU for 58 years, becoming both the longest-serving VCU faculty member and state employee. During his career, he founded the opera program at VCU and staged more than 1,000 opera and musical theater productions. He received the VCU Presidential Medallion in 1999 for 50 years of service and was named professor emeritus in the music department, of which he remained an active supporter in his retirement.

“It was clear that Wayne was a rigorous teacher with extremely high expectations,” said Melanie Day, associate professor and director of VCU Opera. “He ‘set the bar high,’ knowing the students would rise to meet it. And they did. To the consternation of the trepidatious or faint-hearted, Wayne expected each student to have, or to develop, a tough skin — you might say a ‘coat of armor.’ It is imperative in this business, and he understood that.

His mode of training was all about tough love. But the ‘love’ was always there.

“He considered it his moral duty to prepare the young singers to withstand this in preparation for the professional world. His mode of training was all about tough love. But the ‘love’ was always there. So many, many of his students went on to have tremendously successful careers in opera, in musical theater, as public school music educators, as freelance teachers and also as actors.”

Well into his 90s, Batty remained as sharp and witty as ever. He was known for his clever quips, quick comebacks and a constant twinkle in his eye.

Day, who met Batty when she joined the Department of Music in 1982, said he touched thousands of lives in a lasting and deeply meaningful way. 

“Wayne taught his singers discipline and to be generous and to be dedicated 100 percent to any endeavor they might undertake,” she said. “He taught folks to care and to care deeply. Two years after my arrival at VCU, he turned over the directorship of VCU Opera to me. This has been my life — and I owe our success and decades of profound satisfaction from teaching to him.

“Wayne Batty’s essence will forever permeate VCU Music. He gave it his all.”

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