Maria Todaro: Opera’s director aims to spark passion for performing arts

Born in France and the daughter of two opera singers, Italian tenor José Todaro and Brazilian mezzo-soprano Maria-Helena de Oliveira, Maria Todaro has been immersed in the performing arts since childhood. She began her professional life in opera singing as a mezzo-soprano and an entrepreneur, founding the production company Artedor in France. She later embarked on a career as a stage director, working on 23 productions for companies including the Minnesota Opera, Atlanta Opera and Hawaii Opera Theater. 

As librettist, Ms. Todaro collaborated with composer Mitch Bach to write an opera based on The Three Musketeers and is collaborating on an opera about Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, with composer Damien Geter and playwright Harrison Davis Rivers.

She has also staged 16 original productions throughout her decades-long career and in 2009, she co-founded the Hudson Valley International Festival of the Voice, a four-day operatic experience hosted each summer in upstate New York. As the festival’s general director, she initiated a backstage apprenticeship program, oversaw the purchase of the organization’s buildings and led the first drive-in opera performance in the United States during the Covid-19 pandemic. 

With 30 years’ experience as a stage director, conductor, librettist and opera singer under her belt, the Florida Grand Opera appointed Ms. Todaro general director in fall of 2023. The opera company is the oldest performing arts organization in Florida, arising from a 1994 merger between the Greater Miami Opera and The Opera Guild Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, which were founded in 1941 and 1945. 

In her new role, Ms. Todaro aims to reinvigorate a passion for performing arts within the South Florida community and reimagine the opera as an accessible and exciting experience for all. The Florida Grand Opera will open its 2024-2025 season in November with Mozart’s “The Magic Flute,” followed by Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love.” A production of Bizet’s “Carmen,” directed by Ms. Todaro, will close out the season. 

Ms. Todaro spoke with Miami Today reporter Genevieve Bowen.

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