<\/p>\n
\u2018If you can speak you can sing,\u2019 says Florida Grand Opera CEO and General Director Maria Todaro.<\/p>\n
You sound like a sick cat.<\/p>\n
You\u2019re off-key.<\/p>\n
You couldn\u2019t carry a tune in a bucket.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t quit your day job.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve ever heard any such nasty comments about your singing voice, Maria Todaro has an urgent message for you.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not true that you can\u2019t sing,\u201d says Todaro, CEO and general director of the Florida Grand Opera. \u201cIf you can speak, you can sing.\u201d<\/p>\n
And FGO now has a safe space where you can prove that to yourself \u2014 the company\u2019s new Community Choir<\/a> in Miami.<\/p>\n Florida Grand Opera is rolling it out as part of its 85th anniversary season.<\/p>\n READ MORE: \u201cA hub of hope.\u201d What Miami means to Florida Grand Opera\u2019s General Director<\/a><\/p>\n Todaro, who started her first choir at age 18 in her native France, says she has seen first-hand the transformative power of group singing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is a healer,\u201d she says. \u201cSinging together heals on a community level, on a social level, on an emotional level.\u201d<\/p>\n Todaro stresses that you don\u2019t have to know a thing about opera to join the choir because several music genres will be studied and sung.<\/p>\n Registration is on-going, all ages are welcome, no audition is required, there is no set number of \u201cspots\u201d within the chorus, and it\u2019s free to join.<\/p>\n Todaro says she hopes the new choir will attract what she calls her \u201cfavorite person\u201d \u2014 someone who has been told from childhood that they can\u2019t sing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s devastating,\u201d she says. \u201cThe voice is part of your personality. It\u2019s part of your identity. And so, people that have been told this \u2014 there is a broken piece that needs to be restored in them.\u201d<\/p>\n So what should people expect once they sign up and show up at choir practice?<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of fun,\u201d says Todaro. \u201cAnd a lot of self-discovery.\u201d<\/p>\n Registration is now open to join Florida Grand Opera\u2019s Community Choir. Prospective members may write to mtodaro@fgo.org<\/a> to sign up or ask questions. Sessions take place on Thursdays, beginning Sept. 24.<\/p>\n