Gulfshore Opera presents Tosca at three SW Florida venues

In a historic first for the Southwest Florida region, Gulfshore Opera will be the first production company to perform consecutively at the largest theaters in all three counties.
Partnerships for this grand scale production of Tosca include the Naples Philharmonic as the orchestra and the Fort Myers Mastersingers as the chorus. The plot entails a tragic and political love triangle involving Mario Cavaradossi, a painter, who is deeply in love with Floria Tosca, a famous opera singer. His jealous rival is the sadistic Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia. The lethal political thriller is set in Rome, June of 1800 during the Napoleonic wars.
This full scale production with original sets and costumes will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. Featured in this opera are two of the most famous powerful arias ever written, “Vissi d’arte” and “E lucevan le stelle.”
The title role will be performed by Robyn Marie Lamp, whose voice has been described as “robust, easily produced, golden but warm rather than metallic.” She is this year’s winner of the D’Angelo competition and has appeared with Boston Lyric Opera and made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2019.
Roman native Alessio Borraggine, tenor, will portray the heroic painter Mario Cavaradossi. He is consistently praised for the beauty of his tone, his musicality and the physical embodiment of his roles. Upon his New York City debut with Teatro Grattacielo in the lead role of Marcello in Leoncavallo’s La bohème, “of particular note were those of Borraggine, who carried us away with Marcello’s love” (Opera News).
Corey Crider, baritone, will portray the jealous Baron Scarpia. He joined the Metropolitan Opera roster in February 2022 and recently made his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Malatesta in Don Pasquale. Other recent highlights include Marcello in La bohème with the Munich Philharmonic, Sharpless in Madame Butterfly with Dayton Opera, and Escamillo in Carmen with Lyric Opera of Kansas City. Corey is an alumnus of Ryan Opera Center of Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The conductor for the production will be internally acclaimed Jorge Luis Parodi. He has worked extensively in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia; including work with New York City Opera, The Atlanta Opera, The Juilliard School, Opera Tampa and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
The tri-county adventure begins April 23 at the Charlotte Performing Arts Center in Punta Gorda. On April 26, the production will move to Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hall in Fort Myers and will conclude on April 29 at Artis—Naples in Naples. All three performances are at 7 p.m.
For tickets and more info, call 239-529-3925 or visit www.gulfshoreopera.org