As the year 2020 began, anticipation for Rufus Wainwright’s upcoming album was running high. Unfollow the Rules would be Wainwright’s first album of new pop material in eight years. Fans had been clamoring for it since news of Wainwright recording with producer Mitchell Froom (Los Lobos, Elvis Costello) first surfaced in 2018. The album cover... Continue Reading →
SHE COULD HAVE SUNG ALL NIGHT She was the voice of Deborah, Natalie and Audrey. Her lilting soprano delivering “Somewhere,” “Wouldn’t it be Loverly” and “Hello Young Lovers” in the film versions of West Side Story, My Fair Lady and The King and I, respectively. For her work on The King and I, Nixon was... Continue Reading →
Jean Carlos Rodriguez “Let’s play two!” was the catchphrase of Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks. Opera occasionally schedules double-headers as well. Opera Tampa is closing its season with two one-act operas: Puccini’s comedy Gianni Schicchi and Mascagni’s tragedy Cavalleria Rusticana. Jean Carlos Rodriguez performs in both operas and he’s wondering how much time he’ll have... Continue Reading →
Although known as a composer of operettas – he wrote nearly 100 of them – Jacques Offenbach’s best known work is a full-scale opera, The Tales of Hoffmann. Built around the writings of German author E.T.A. Hoffmann, the opera has become one of opera’s premiere works. Composer Jacques Offenbach photographed by Nadar in the 1860s... Continue Reading →
Tampa has a long history tied to Latin cultures, dating back to 1539 and the arrival of Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto to the Tampa Bay region. That historical tie continues more than 470 years later when the Straz Center for the Performing Arts participates in National Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15... Continue Reading →
It will come to no surprise that Broadway and opera are represented on the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry, which preserves recordings that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.” The original cast albums of Oklahoma!, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Sweeney Todd, The Wiz... Continue Reading →
Currently the Artistic/Managing Director and Chorus Master for Opera Tampa, Robin Andrew Stamper continues a versatile career as a coach-accompanist, chorus master and opera conductor. Credits include director of music for the Kentucky Opera where he made his conducting debut for The Mikado. Subsequently, he became Artistic Director for the Nevada Opera where he conducted... Continue Reading →
Seven Wonders of the WorldSeven DwarfsSeven Deadly SinsSeven ContinentsSeven Days of CreationSeven Brides for Seven BrothersSeven SeasSeven Days a WeekSeven SistersSeven Swans a SwimmingSeven Hills of RomeSeven Words You Can’t Say on TelevisionSeven Colors of the Rainbow All sorts of things come in sevens – the good, the bad and the dwarfs. At The Straz,... Continue Reading →
One of the greatest partnerships in musical theater was gravely wounded by a fight about carpet. What a shaggy predicament. Sir William Schwenck Gilbert and Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan. The duo of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Sir Arthur Sullivan was a collaboration that lasted a quarter century, creating a body of work, according to... Continue Reading →
Stage combat choreographer Teresa E. Gallar discusses how to safely create fight scenes. Caught In the Act: How did you get started in this line of work? Teresa Gallar: Like any other physical endeavor, there is a thrill from a well-executed fight. Similar to a home run or field goal. It is even more satisfying to have a fight you choreographed... Continue Reading →
Just because the Straz stages are on intermission during the COVID-19 pandemic, doesn’t mean our Opera Tampa singers are home resting on their laurels – well, not all of the time. About a month ago we caught up with Annie Scott, Alec Brown and Dana Clark, who also are roommates here in Tampa. Scott is... Continue Reading →
Last Monday, March 9, the Straz Center said goodbye to Opera Tampa’s founding artistic director and one of the most colorful characters to grace our halls and stages. Here, we recount some of our favorite things about Maestro Anton Coppola. On March 21, 1917, Anton Coppola arrived to Italian-American parents in a country that was... Continue Reading →
The 2019 D’Angelo Young Artist Vocal Competition honors Opera Tampa’s dedication to nurturing new artists. On a more personal note, the competition represents Opera Tampa League Board Chair Gina d’Angelo’s commitment to continuing her parents’ love of music through philanthropic support. When Straz Center donor and Opera Tampa League chairperson Gina d’Angelo was in college,... Continue Reading →
The Straz Center’s Manager of Special Events Nicole Stickeler dons a bum roll to change into her next role for Opera Tampa. In show business, you’re considered a triple threat if you can sing, dance and act. In the performing arts, you’re considered a triple threat if you can sing, act and raise money. The... Continue Reading →
Longtime Opera Tampa and Straz Center photographer Rob Bovarnick reveals the secrets behind capturing that Pearl Fishers photo. Cardboard box. Plastic bag. Three thousand white beads ... What sounds like either the making of a Mardi Gras costume or the making of a very bizarre murder comprised the basic backstage ingredients of one of the... Continue Reading →
Die Fledermaus soprano and Opera Tampa returnee Rochelle Bard explains life in opera. One of the great injustices to opera is the enduring stereotype involving a strident woman in a blonde braid wig and a Viking hat. It’s not a very sexy image, and let’s face it: opera is sexy. The canon teems with gorgeous... Continue Reading →
North Carolina soprano Jill Gardner’s musical ancestry and training led her to killing the role of Lady Macbeth. On Friday the 13th, Opera Tampa unloads quite the murderfest with their debut performance of Verdi’s Macbeth. The bloody story of a Scottish nobleman’s immoral rise to power, Macbeth was for Shakespeare, and here, for Verdi, really... Continue Reading →
Giuseppe Verdi’s version of “more cowbell” looks something like an entire chorus of witches in Macbeth versus the Bard’s three. In 1597, King James of Scotland wrote a work of what he considered to be definitive scholarship: Daemonologie, a paper on witchcraft. James, widely regarded by self and others to be an expert on the... Continue Reading →
Opera Tampa Singer Vanessa Rodriguez reveals the four parts of the body to “place” the voice. Plus, she shows how to hit those high notes with no microphone. “It’s the Tweety Bird end of the spectrum,” says Vanessa Rodriguez. We’d asked her to explain what she meant when she told us she was a coloratura... Continue Reading →
Seth Black-Diamond and the new Straz web series, Milkshakes & Opera On January 12, Opera Tampa launched its first-ever web series geared towards kids. The idea? Take a well-loved local 11-year-old performer, give him a hosting gig and sit him across from equally well-loved opera conductors to gab about opera and drink milkshakes donated by... Continue Reading →
