Nathaniel Catasca News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Florentine Opera christened the newly renovated Uihlein Hall Friday evening by scattering litter across the stage. But wait a minute — I don't want you to think the Florentines don't clean up after themselves, or that they won't be invited back to the Marcus Performing Arts Center's flagship space (with spiffy new center aisles, but more on that later). In a COVID-19 pandemic year of local arts groups navigating safety protocols to perform unusual works in unusual ways, the Florentine's "Little Mahagonny" might be the unusualest.  Composed by Kurt Weill with words by Bertolt Brecht and E...

After a year of isolation, young Florentine Opera singers are in the first cast to perform in Marcus Center's renovated Uihlein Hall.

They came from San Diego, Orlando and Albuquerque for a winter of COVID-19 isolation in Milwaukee.  But Florentine Opera performers Emily Michiko Jensen, Taylor-Alexis DuPont and Nathaniel Catasca were concerned less about the weather and more about how much they would get to sing.  In a normal year, the early-career vocalists who spend a year here as Baumgartner Studio Artists keep their larynxes busy with performing roles in mainstage productions, touring with the Florentine's school show for children and singing gigs at coffeeshops and festivals.  During this pandemic year, they've s...