A special treat for opera fans

A training program and festival draw singers from all over the world.

By LOGAN NEILL
Published June 25, 2007

The North Suncoast is about to get a taste of some world-class opera.

Come July, operatic singers from around the globe will descend on the area to begin a month of intensive training with opera professionals. The program will culminate with the performance of four operas at Nature Coast Technical High School in Brooksville.

Members of the opera company will perform at several smaller recitals at Trinity College in Pasco County, with dates to be announced later.

The best part is that residents will be able to attend the gala performances and perhaps be able to boast that they saw the next Luciano Pavarotti or Maria Callas before they became stars.

"It's going to be a wonderful experience for opera lovers, " Nature Coast theater director Lori Erickson said of the Intermezzo Opera Festival, which will be July 27 through Aug. 3 at her school's Black Box Theatre.

According to Erickson, the festival will be directed by opera professionals with Intermezzo Inc., a New York company that specializes in training aspiring opera singers and will bring to the stage full performances of Verdi's Falstaff, Mozart's The Magic Flute, Britten's Albert Herring and Puccinni's Suor Angelica.

How Hernando County ended up as host to one of the country's premiere opera training programs can be traced to Janine Caffrey, who runs the Renaissance Academy school in New Port Richey, and is good friends with Erickson and Erickson's husband, Tim, who also teaches drama at Nature Coast Tech.

Caffrey, whose daughter, Alison, performed in Intermezzo's opera festival last summer in West Palm Beach, was approached this spring by the company's director, Mitchell Piper, for help in securing a new location.

Said Caffrey: "Their biggest concern was finding a place where they could get high production values. My thoughts turned immediately turned to Lori Erickson and Tim because that's what they do and do very well."

The festival will bring together voice students of various ages from all over the world. They were chosen through auditions in New York, Boston, Chicago and Miami. Nature Coast High will host 10 opera performances.

Erickson said the operas will be performed in their original languages and will be directed by well-known professionals, including Andrew Chown and David Grabarkewitz, directors at the New York City Opera; Jonathan Loy, former director of the Center City Opera Theatre in Philadelphia; and Peter Kazaras, artistic director of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program. J. David Jackson of the New York Metropolitan Opera and Elaine Rinaldi of Orchestra Miami will conduct.

Logan Neill can be reached at lneill@sptimes.com or 352 848-1435.

Fast Facts:

Intermezzo Opera Festival

Performance times are as follows at Nature Coast Technical High School in Brooksville:

- Falstaff, 7:30 p.m. July 28 and 3 p.m. Aug. 3.

- The Magic Flute, 3 p.m. July 29 and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 1 and 3.

- Albert Herring, 7:30 p.m. July 27, 29 and Aug. 2.

- Suor Angelica, 3 p.m. July 28 and 7:30 p.m. July 30.

Tickets for the performances will be on sale from 2 to 4 p.m. July 2-3 and July 9-26 at Nature Coast Tech's Black Box Theatre box office at 4057 California St., south of Brooksville. Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for students. Discounted multiple show packages are available. For reservations, call 797-7088 ext. 296.

Note: Several smaller recitals are planned at Trinity College in Pasco County. The dates and ticket information will be announced later.

[Last modified June 24, 2007, 21:02:03]