FRI • MAR 15 • 8:00PM
SUN • MAR 17 • 2:00PM
FERGUSON HALL
In a seaside village in the Far East, a veiled priestess
wearing a unique yet concealed necklace arrives to bless
the pearl divers. But the catch in this story involves much
more than pearls – worlds collide as one of the village
men realizes the woman behind the veil is none other
than Leila, whom both he and his best friend love and
swore an eternal oath to never touch again. When he
breaks his vow, it will become a matter of life and death
that someone sees the necklace Leila wears. From the
composer of Carmen comes this lush tale of the High
Priestess of Brahma and the two men whose dramatic
destinies are bound to their love for her. Filled with
ornate, Asian-themed costumes and music sparkling with
motifs of Indochinese cymbals and bells, (including the
famed male duet “Au fond du temple saint”), The Pearl
Fishers is Georges Bizet’s gem of an opera that makes its
Straz Center debut this season.
The Pearl Fishers is sung in French with
English translations projected above the stage.
OPERATAMPA.ORG • 23
*Dr. Zena Lansky, M.D. Endowed Principal Artist
SUSAN HELLMAN SPATAFORA*
Leila
SAMUEL HALL
Nadir
TIMOTHY RENNER
Zurga
KEVIN LANGAN
Nourabad
Jorge Parodi, Conductor
The music director of the Senior Opera Theater at the Manhattan School
of Music, Jorge Parodi has worked as a conductor at Buenos Aires Lírica
(Argentina), The Banff Centre (Canada), Tsaritsynskaya Opera Volgograd
(Russia), Encuentros Internacionales de Opera (Mexico), Hofstra University
and New York University, among others. Hailed as having “the most
expressive conducting hands since Stokowski’s” (New York Daily News),
Parodi has collaborated with such artists as Tito Capobianco, Sherrill Milnes
and Rufus Wainwright, and has assisted conductors of the caliber of Lorin
Maazel and Julius Rudel. He debuted as conductor with Opera Tampa in its
2018 production of The Barber of Seville.
/OPERATAMPA.ORG