THE MAESTRO AT 100 Anton Coppola's century-long life runs through opera and Broadway. He's left his mark on Tampa, too

The founding artistic director of Opera Tampa will likely be joined by members of his famous family, including film directors Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola. Coppola's career spans roughly 80 years and includes stints as music director for the Broadway musicals that introduced Julie And...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSt. Petersburg times (Saint Petersburg, Fla. : 1921)
Main Author Meacham, Andrew
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Tampa Bay Times Publishing Company 24.03.2017
Subjects
Broadway theater
Coppola, Francis Ford
Dictators
Kitt, Eartha
Music
Musical performances
Musicians & conductors
Opera
Performing arts
Performing arts centers
Youth ensembles
New York
United States > US
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Summary:The founding artistic director of Opera Tampa will likely be joined by members of his famous family, including film directors Francis Ford Coppola and Sofia Coppola. Coppola's career spans roughly 80 years and includes stints as music director for the Broadway musicals that introduced Julie Andrews, Eartha Kitt and Paul Lynde; conducting at major opera houses and, briefly, in a scene in The Godfather Part III, directed by his nephew. Lisi left Connecticut in 1992, over Coppola's protests, to take over as president of the former Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Agostino Coppola wanted each child to play a musical instrument; Anton gravitated to the piano. After a successful run as music director of the comedy revue, Stars of 1952, which propelled Kitt and others, Coppola was tapped to conduct a British musical making its debut in New York, The Boy Friend. After the first rehearsal going over songs on the piano, he said, "I went home and told my wife, 'There's a young girl, she's only 19 years old, and she can sing and dance and do everything. [...]highest on his memory hit list was Sacco and Vanzetti. Coppola will head back to New York and resume his routines - writing at the piano, pushing his walker through Central Park an hour each day, building up strength for that next project. Credit: TIMES PERFORMING ARTS CRITIC Caption: PHOTO - OCTAVIO JONES - Times (2012): Maestro Anton Coppola blows a kiss to the audience during an ovation of several minutes...
ISSN:2327-9052