Emma Nevada: Chautauqua presentation by Anita Watson

Anita Watson will be portraying famed historical figure Emma Nevada in the Emma Nevada: The Silver State Diva Chatauqua. The performance will begin at 7 p.m. Saturday at Virginia City's Historic Fourth Ward School, 537 South C St.

Emma Nevada, born near Nevada City, Calif., and raised in Austin, was a successful and popular opera singer. She graced the world's stages from her debut in London in 1880 until her final performance in Berlin in 1910.

Nevada worked with legendary composers and directors and sang for royalty. She lived much of her life in Paris, but always referred to the American West as her home. In this Chautauqua performance, Emma Nevada will grant a newspaper interview following her retirement, discussing her family, her career and her life as a prima donna.

Anita Ernst Watson is a longtime Nevadan who has always been interested in the people and the places of the Silver State. She earned her Ph.D at the University of Nevada Reno, where she taught history, as well as working in the museum education field in Nevada and Minnesota.

She has published on the topics of Nevada women, Nevada medicine, as well as written and edited a CD version of Nevada history for elementary and middle school students.

She has been doing Chautauqua performances for more than 10 years, presenting Nevada personalities Mary McNair Mathews and Mary Oxborrow, as well as Minnesotan Jane Grey Swisshelm. Her most recent character is opera singer Emma Nevada.

For more information, call 775-847-0975.

For overnight accommodations and more information on this and other events happening in Virginia City, log on to www.VisitVirginia

CityNV.com or call the Virginia City Visitor Center at 775-847-4FUN (4386) or (800) 718-SLVR (7587).