About the St Petersburg Opera Company

Artistic Programs

Emerging artists, youth chorus, and the SPO chorus programs attract artists from around the world!

Outreach & Education

Every year we share opera with hundreds of local schools.

Auditions & Employment

The St. Petersburg Opera Company provides employment opportunities.

St. Petersburg Opera Guild

St Petersburg Opera Guild works to educate and build an appreciative audience for opera, especially youth. For over 50 years we have held a Vocal Competition in the early Spring.

The mission of the
St. Petersburg Opera Company is

to enrich the cultural lives of the residents of and visitors to the Tampa Bay area by presenting fully staged professional opera productions of the highest quality

… and to make opera accessible to present and future audiences through community outreach, educational initiatives, and collaboration with other arts organizations.

Our Mission & Vision

Collaboration with key artistic organizations and free concerts throughout the community allow people of all ages and from all walks of life to experience and learn that they love opera.

Recognized for Excellence

The St. Petersburg Opera Co. has been recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts for the quality of its Emerging Artist program.

SPO productions and personnel have won numerous industry awards, boasting the honor of being voted “Best Opera Company of the Bay” for three years running.

Maestro Sforzini was recently chosen by Musical America as one of thirty international industry professionals as a “Profile in Courage”. These top industry leaders have “taken a risk, spoken out where others were silent – all to the measurable benefit of their arts organizations and the field”.

"a city that is having a cultural renaissance would have a professional opera company"

St. Petersburg Opera Company is firmly rooted in the rich landscape of one of the most exciting, culturally-vibrant areas of Florida! Because of the talent, tenacity and artistic vision of Maestro Mark Sforzini, what modestly started out as “the little opera company that could” became, within its first season, a performing arts powerhouse, where the finest professional singers, the best musicians and the most creative craftspeople come together to make magic, every time.

“People who love St. Petersburg like the idea that a city that is having a cultural renaissance would have a professional opera company,” Maestro Sforzini once told a reporter, adding, with a mischievous grin, “and a QUALITY professional opera company!”

So he built it. And they came.

Maestro's Bio

Best Opera Company of the Bay

St. Petersburg Opera Company is always in the running for a Goodburger of Best of the Bay or Theater Tampa Bay Award!

Opera For Kids!

Maestro Sforzini is devoted to the mission to make opera accessible and enjoyable for all, which can be noted in the measurable impact of lifelong learning and youth education programs.

Free Concerts for All!

Collaboration with key artistic organizations and free concerts throughout the community allow people of all ages and from all walks of life to experience and learn that they love opera.

Things you should know about SPO!

Since founding the company in 2007, Maestro’s vision has enhanced the cultural life of Tampa Bay.

Defying the laws of music, each year the quality of musicianship has continued to grow and thrive.

Professionally staged opera and the outreach activities enhance the cultural life of Tampa Bay. providing myriad opportunities for professional singers, orchestral players, dancers, directors, choreographers, and designers
both locally and abroad.

SPO provides myriad opportunities for professional singers, orchestral players, dancers, directors, choreographers and designers.

The artistic experience has always been paramount in Maestro Mark Sforzini’s vision. So artists both locally and abroad seek out an opportunity to work with SPO.

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