Florida Grand Opera Marks 85th Season Rooted in Founder’s Miami Legacy
Florida Grand Opera is entering its 85th season, highlighting the company’s origins in Miami and the early efforts of its founder, Arturo di Filippi.
Di Filippi worked a series of jobs in factories and workshops before pursuing formal musical training that led him to Juilliard, Europe, Carnegie Hall, and national radio. After a serious illness and multiple lung operations, doctors advised him to relocate to a warmer climate, which brought him to Miami.
Two years after his arrival, during World War II and with few trained singers available, di Filippi prepared local performers himself and staged a production of "Pagliacci," regarded as the company’s first season. That initiative laid the foundation for what is now recognized as Florida’s oldest performing arts organization.
Eighty-five seasons later, Florida Grand Opera credits successive generations of artists, patrons, and audiences with sustaining its presence in Miami’s cultural landscape, as the company prepares to share more of its history in its publication SCENE at the opening of the new season.