{"id":126479,"date":"2026-01-21T15:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126479\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:12:08","slug":"an-in-house-orchestra-and-art-deco-vision-shape-florida-grand-operas-die-fledermaus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/126479\/","title":{"rendered":"An in-house orchestra and Art Deco vision shape Florida Grand Opera\u2019s ‘Die Fledermaus’"},"content":{"rendered":"

For Florida Grand Opera, a new era is underway, as artistic director Maria Todaro<\/a> vows to keep her promise that she\u2019s not presenting \u201cyour grandmother\u2019s opera\u201d with the upcoming reimagining of \u201cDie Fledermaus.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s what she said about her staging of FGO\u2019s \u201cCarmen\u201d last season, which she conceived to be accessible to everyone. She brought in a new crowd who were drawn to a familiar name \u2014\u00a0\u201cThe Real Housewives of Miami\u201d star Julia Lemigova (who is married to tennis star Martina Navratilova), for which Todaro wrote in a part.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to keep opera relevant and exciting, to draw young and more diverse audiences,\u201d said Todaro, the daughter of Italian opera singer Jose Todaro and Brazilian mezzo-soprano Maria-Helena de Oliveira who was named interim FGO director in 2023 and general director\/CEO the following year.<\/p>\n

Her European pedigree and her professional life in opera as a mezzo-soprano are part of what drive her desire to have FGO \u2014 recognized as one of the oldest opera companies in the United States, continuously operating since 1941 \u2014 become what she calls a \u201ctrue opera company, an international House.\u201d<\/p>\n

A resident orchestra is among the factors Todaro believes gives the company its stature. In May, Todaro announced Pablo Mielgo as its music director. He has been artistic and musical director of the Orquesta Sinf\u00f3nica Islas Baleares in Spain since 2014.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Art Deco-inspired set for \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d was created by Belgian set designer Beno\u00eet Dugardyn for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England. (Florida Grand Opera\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n

Mielgo said the players in the pit for previous FGO shows were contracted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an external orchestra and when I became director, we decided, with the board, to have our own orchestra,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen 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\u2019s work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Todaro agreed with Mielgo\u2019s assessment of the orchestra\u2019s buy-in and how the sense of ownership will add to fueling a great ambition: to make Florida Grand Opera a true international company.<\/p>\n

Building the in-house orchestra is integral to FGO\u2019s production of \u201cDie Fledermaus,\u201d which has three performances coming up at Miami\u2019s Arsht Center for the Performing Arts this weekend and Tuesday, Jan. 27.<\/p>\n

The in-house orchestra made its debut with the company\u2019s most recent production, \u201cSilent Night,\u201d but \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d marks the first time Mielgo and his musicians will be together.<\/p>\n

Mielgo, who was born in Madrid, said his connection to Miami is one \u201cfrom many, many years ago. I have someone there who is a second mother to me,\u201d he added, referring to Tanya Capriles Brillembourg, founder of the SaludArte Foundation. (Mielgo has been the foundation\u2019s musical and artistic director since 2005.)<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Florida Grand Opera in-house orchestra made its debut with the most recent production, \u201cSilent Night,\u201d but \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d marks the first time they play with music director Pablo Mielgo. (Florida Grand Opera\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n

In 2011, Mielgo made his Florida Grand Opera conducting debut during a co-production of the zarzuela \u201cLuisa Fernanda\u201d with the SaludArte Foundation. The production featured legendary tenor Pl\u00e1cido Domingo, who sang the lead role for a special gala performance, with Mielgo conducting.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe home base of SaludArte Foundation is Miami, so I was traveling quite often to Miami to do music projects,\u201d Mielgo said. \u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s been about 22 years, so I know the city quite well, and I think Miami is a city that is changing all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

He agrees that FGO should be the world-class opera company of a destination that, he said, is attracting so many international residents \u2014 many from Europe \u2014 who bring with them opera and classical music traditions that shape expectations for what is offered here.<\/p>\n

Those expectations are exactly what the company is embracing in \u201cDie Fledermaus,\u201d approaching the classic operetta with a fresh sense of creativity that reflects both its European roots and Miami\u2019s contemporary, international character.<\/p>\n

Johann Strauss\u2019 comedy of errors about love and hidden identities has been given a distinctly local twist, Todaro revealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of tradition in Viennese operetta, but we are changing that,\u201d Todaro said. \u201cIn 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The operetta\u2019s success rests equally on its witty dialogue and its brilliant music.<\/p>\n

\"FloridaFlorida Grand Opera acquired the set for \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d from the Washington National Opera. (Florida Grand Opera\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have completely rewritten the text,\u201d said Todaro, of the dialogue work she and stage director Conor Hanratty partnered on. \u201cSo it\u2019s completely owned by us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The dialogue is in English while the singing parts of the opera will remain in German with English and Spanish supertitles.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe 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,\u201d explained Todaro.<\/p>\n

Another tip to Miami is the Art Deco set that the company recently acquired and now owns. \u201cThe set has a beautiful pedigree behind it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Belgian set designer Beno\u00eet Dugardyn created the Art Deco-inspired set for \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d for the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in England. Todaro said it has \u201ctraveled all over the world,\u201d making its debut in 2003.<\/p>\n

FGO acquired it from the Washington National Opera, whose production that same year featured celebrity cameos including then-Supreme Court Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anthony Kennedy.<\/p>\n

Costumes, inspired by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt and designed by German costume designer Ingeborg Bernerth, were acquired from Washington National Opera\u2019s artistic director, Francesca Zambello.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was very generous with us. We are being faithful to the styles, but we are kind of readapting them,\u201d said Todaro, describing the costumes for her \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d as cool, bubbly and accessible.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is part of, as you know, our desire to not be your grandmother\u2019s opera, to keep our promises and to keep us relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

IF YOU GO<\/p>\n

WHAT:\u00a0Florida Grand Opera\u2019s \u201cDie Fledermaus\u201d<\/p>\n

WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 24-25, and 8 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 27<\/p>\n

WHERE: Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami<\/p>\n

COST: $22-$300<\/p>\n

INFORMATION: 800-741-1010; fgo.org<\/a><\/p>\n

ArtburstMiami.com<\/a>\u00a0is a nonprofit media source for the arts featuring fresh and original stories by writers dedicated to theater, dance, visual arts, film, music and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For Florida Grand Opera, a new era is underway, as artistic director Maria Todaro vows to keep her…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126480,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[684,28,225,227,226,114,123,373,2609,109,106],"class_list":{"0":"post-126479","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-hialeah","8":"tag-events","9":"tag-florida","10":"tag-hialeah","11":"tag-hialeah-headlines","12":"tag-hialeah-news","13":"tag-latest-headlines","14":"tag-miami","15":"tag-miami-dade-county","16":"tag-music-and-concerts","17":"tag-social","18":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}