Anton Coppola will conduct Puccini's Madama Butterfly to open the 2004-05 season.
By JOHN FLEMING
Published April 11, 2004
In its 10th anniversary season, Opera Tampa will return to the beginning, with a production of the first opera it performed, Madama Butterfly.
As he was when the company started, Anton Coppola will be in the pit for the Puccini opera Nov. 19 and 21, opening the 2004-05 season.
Coppola also will conduct the season finale, a collaboration with Orlando Opera on Verdi's Aida, April 29 and May 1, 2005. It will be the second time the companies have shared a production, after this season's Abduction!, an adaptation of Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio that was given a Florida setting by Orlando general director Robert Swedberg.
The season will be rounded out by the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players production of The Mikado on Feb. 12-13 and soprano Jessye Norman in a recital March 12.
Opera Tampa, whose artistic high point was the premiere of Coppola's Sacco & Vanzetti in 2001, was formed by Judith Lisi, president of the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, where the productions are staged.
"When I came to the center in 1992, one of my dreams was to produce the very best grand opera for Tampa," Lisi said. "Another was to establish a resident opera company that would make Tampa proud. Over the course of 10 years, both dreams came true, and to a greater extent than I could have hoped."
The company performs Puccini's Turandot on Friday and March 18, directed by Vernon Hartman, with Coppola conducting.
Subscriptions to the 2004-05 season range from $74 to $179 and go on sale April 19. Single tickets go on sale Aug. 1. Information: 813 229-7827 or toll-free 1-800-955-1045; www.tbpac.org
