For Florida Grand Opera, a new era is underway as artistic director Maria Todaro vows to keep her promise that she’s not presenting “your grandmother’s opera” with the upcoming reimagining of “Die Fledermaus.”
It’s what she said about her staging of FGO’s “Carmen” last season, which she conceived to be accessible to everyone. She brought in a new crowd who were drawn to a familiar name—a star attraction cameo, Julia Lemigova, “The Real Housewives of Miami” and married to tennis star Martina Navratilova, for which Todaro wrote in a part for the reality television show personality.
“We want to keep opera relevant and exciting – to draw young and more diverse audiences,” said Todaro, the daughter of Italian opera singer Jose Todaro and Brazilian mezzo-soprano Maria Helenda de Oliveira, who was named interim director of FGO in 2023. In May 2024, the board announced her as general director and CEO.
It is her European pedigree and her own professional life in opera as a mezzo-soprano that is part of what drives her desire to have FGO—recognized as one of the oldest opera companies in the United States, continuously operating since 1941—to become what she calls a “true opera company, an international House.”
Part of what Todaro believes gives stature to the company is having its own resident orchestra. In May, Todaro announced Pablo Mielgo as its music director. Currently living in Majorca, he has been artistic and musical director of the Orquesta Sinfónica Islas Baleares since 2014.
Mielgo explained that the players in the pit for previous FGO shows were contracted. “It was an external orchestra and when I became director, we decided, with the board, to have our own orchestra. When the musicians are hired by the company, they are involved in the life of the opera company. They feel the growing, they feel the compromise, and they get close to the artistic side. Being involved in the life of the opera company, everyone knows that success depends on everyone’s work.”
Todaro agreed with Mielgo’s assessment of the orchestra’s buy-in and how the sense of ownership will add to fueling a great ambition: to make Florida Grand Opera a true international company.
A large part of that is building the in-house orchestra, which is integral to FGO’s latest and newest production of “Die Fledermaus,” which has three performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center, opening Saturday, Jan. 24, with shows Sunday, Jan. 25, and Tuesday, Jan. 27.
The in-house orchestra made its debut with the company’s most recent production, “Silent Night,” but “Die Fledermaus” will be the first time Mielgo and his musicians will be together.
For Mielgo, born in Madrid, he said his connection to Miami is one “from many, many years ago. I have someone there who is a second mother to me,” he said of Tanya Capriles Brillembourg, the founder of SaludeArte Foundation, of which Mielgo has been the musical and artistic director since 2005. In 2011, when SaludeArte Foundation co-produced the zarzuela “Luisa Fernanda” with Florida Grand Opera, it was Mielgo’s first time leading the orchestra for FGO. The production featured legendary tenor Plácido Domingo, who sang the lead role for a special gala performance, with Mielgo conducting.
“The home base of SaludeArte Foundation is Miami, so I was traveling quite often to Miami to do music projects. I’d say it’s been about 22 years, so I know the city quite well, and I think Miami is a city that is changing all the time.”
He agrees that FGO should be the world-class opera company of a destination that, he said, is attracting so many international residents—many from Europe—who bring with them opera and classical music traditions that shape expectations for what is offered here.
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Those expectations are exactly what the company is embracing in its upcoming production of “Die Fledermaus,” approaching the classic operetta with a fresh sense of creativity that reflects both its European roots and Miami’s contemporary, international character.
Johann Strauss’s 1890s comedy of errors about love and hidden identities has been given a distinctly local twist, revealed Todaro.
“There’s a lot of tradition in Viennese operetta, but we are changing that,” revealed Todaro. “In the place of the role of the Italian tenor, it is a Latino tenor. Everything that has foreign illusion is going to be Hispanic or Latino. That is a big wink to our population here,” she said.
The operetta’s success rests equally on the wit of its spoken dialogue as well as bringing out the brilliance of the music.
“We have completely rewritten the text,” said Todaro of the dialogue work she and stage director Conor Hanratty partnered on. “So it’s completely owned by us.”
The dialogue is in English while the sung part of the opera will remain in German with English and Spanish supertitles. “We wanted to be authentic and respect the German language. With the English dialogue, audiences can laugh at the jokes, so we have a little bit of both worlds,” explained Todaro.
Another tip to Miami is an Art Deco set that the company recently acquired and now owns. “The set has a beautiful pedigree behind it,” said Todaro.
Designed by Belgian set designer Benoît Dugardyn, he created the Art Deco-inspired set for “Die Fledermaus” for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England. Todaro said it has “traveled all over the world,” making its debut in 2003 at Glyndebourne, performed by the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
FGO acquired it from the Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center, whose production in 2003 featured celebrity cameos including then-Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Anthony Kennedy.
Costumes, inspired by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt and designed by German costume designer Ingeborg Bernerth, were also acquired from Washington National Opera’s artistic director Francesca Zambello. “She was very generous with us. We are being faithful to the styles, but we are kind of readapting them.” Todaro describes the costumes for her “Die Fledermaus” as cool, bubbly, and accessible.
“And this is part of, as you know, our desire to not be your grandmother’s opera, to keep our promises and to keep us relevant.”
The Art Deco theme will carry through to a gala that FGO will host on opening night on the stage of the Arsht, with its “Die Fledermaus” set as the backdrop, where it will present its first Global Elevare Awards.
“We created this to recognize leaders whose work elevates communities,” said Todaro, adding that one of the recipients is the grandson of Nelson Mandela, Prince Ndaba Mandela, co-Founder and chairman, Africa Rising Foundation; co-Founder and chairman, Mandela Institute for Humanity. Other awardees include Joseph Fowler, head of arts and culture, World Economic Forum; Leigh Gilmore, global head, Bloomberg Live Experiences (Bloomberg Media); Afo Verde, chairman and CEO, Sony Music Latin Iberia; along with four others. Designing the award is Romero Britto, the Brazilian-born, Miami-based contemporary artist, adding to the Miami-influenced style of the event, said Todaro.
For Todaro, FGO’s transformation is more than just a new production or a new orchestra; it’s the foundation for the company to become a true international House. “More and more people are now becoming aware that we are here. We see there’s definitely a momentum. We still have much work and so much is happening in a good way… It’s good work . . . It’s great work,” she said.
IF YOU GO
What: Florida Grand Opera’s “Die Fledermaus”
When: 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 24, 3 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 25 and 8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 27.
Where: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
Cost: $28- $306 includes all fees
Information: 800-741-1010 or fgo.org
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