It’s a dream come true to HAVE TO WORK in Miami. The warmth, the sun, the beach, and the architecture all are great attributes of this wonderful city. I’m performing my debut with Florida Grand as the Duke in Rigoletto and to be able to pop from rehearsal to a sun drenched balcony or the beach is divine.

There’s so much to me that I haven’t discovered here in Miami but from my first look, what really hit me are the supreme influences from the art deco era all over the city. The sharp colors and the radical but classy designs of buildings are all far more than what I expected from my limited knowledge of that period. It’s a sight to be seen and something that easily parallels with our beautiful art form of opera. The joy of opera is that the public has it’s eyes opened to flashy, gorgeous music by composers whose music is timeless, whom we respect greatly, and whom we desperately want to see promulgated more and more in the coming years across the country. The rejuvenation and upkeep of Miami and Miami Beach is so terrific and is a testament to the fact that visual art, in the form of architecture does so much to improve the vitality of a major metropolis and bring vibrancy not only to the surroundings, but the people themselves. In our industry, we have seen the advent of major technology upgrading the dissemination of opera performances in 3D, on television, in movie theaters. In time, I believe we will see the advent of a continued rejuvenation of the operatic art form to take place world wide with the emphasis on educating our young people, presenting productions that are both visually appealing and musically top notch, yet hearkening back to the golden era of our operatic form from the (arguably) 30’s to the 70’s, adhering to tradition and concurrently opening ourselves up to the future.

All in all, a wonderful trip here so far. Glad to be here with the Florida Grand Opera in this wonderful environment. What a blessing.