Staff
Linda Switzer
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
LINDA MULE’ SWITZER was a prizewinner in the Florida District Metropolitan Opera Auditions and a prizewinner in the Atlanta Regional Metropolitan Opera Auditions. She holds a Master of Music degree in voice performance from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Longwood College in Farmville, Va. Mule’ is active as a performer in regional opera, zarzuela and musical theater. She has performed roles with Opera Tampa, Sarasota Opera, Orlando Opera, Florida Lyric Opera, The Florida Orchestra, Treasure Coast Opera, Pensacola Opera and Spanish Lyric Theatre. Mule’ felt extremely fortunate to have a role in the world premiere of Anton Coppola’s Sacco and Vanzetti, under the baton of Conductor Anton Coppola. She most recently performed the role of the widow in the Spanish version of the Merry Widow, entitled La Viuda Alegre, for Spanish Lyric Theatre. Mule’ and her husband, Mark Switzer, own The Florida Arts School and she is an adjunct professor of voice at St. Petersburg College.
Stefanos Koroneos
ARTISTIC DEVELOPERÂ OPERA
Few singers boast a career as long, successful and varied as that of baritone Stefanos Koroneos. Broad repertoire, both old and new, has taken him to opera and concert stages worldwide, and his performances reflect his years of experience. Equally adept as a performer, director and mentor, Stefanos Koroneos is now bringing his expertise to a new generation of singers.
Past seasons have seen Mr. Koroneos at the Teatro alla Scala, the Rossini Festival in Pesaro, the theaters of Parma, Pisa, Livorno and Bussetto, as well as the Greek National Opera, the Rome Easter Festival, the Bolshoi Opera, the Seoul Opera, Oslo’s Den Nye Opera, Staatstheater Freiburg and Theater Osnabrûck. In the United States he has performed with the New York City Opera, the Opera Orchestra of New York, Palm Beach Opera, Tampa Opera and Connecticut Opera, amongst others, in roles such as the Count and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Dandini and Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Ford in Falstaff, Silvio in Pagliacci, and the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo.Â
On the concert stage, Mr. Koroneos has been featured in recitals at the Rhodes International Music Festival in Greece, the Maiblüten Festival in Switzerland, as well as the Whitney Museum and Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Recordings include I Vespri Siciiani with the Verdi Festival of Bussetto, a PBS broadcast of La Bohème, as well as projects with RAI (Italy) and the Sky International Classic Channel.
As Mr. Koroneos opens a new chapter as General and Artistic Director of Teatro Grattacielo, he brings with him the experience of having worked with some of opera’s most distiguished stage directors and conductors, including Franco Zeffirelli, Fabrizio Melano, Moisés Kaufman, and Richard Bonynge. In 2021 he directs Mozart’s Idomeneo in Heraklion, Greece and with Teatro Grattacielo in New York, followed by Mascagni’s L’Amico Fritz for the Phoenicia Festival of the Voice and Don Giovianni for the Vincerò Academy in New York City.
Joseph Peterson
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR MUSICAL THEATRE
JOSEPH PETERSON is a NYC performer and a proud veteran performer at Disney World. He has over 25 years of experience in the art form and has countless musical theater and opera productions to his credit. He is a Music and Singing teaching artist with Mark Morris Dance Group in Brooklyn, and is currently working on Science Fiction Musical Podcast. Joseph is a proud member of Actors' Equity and is excited to be returning to the Florida Lyric Opera as Artistic Director Musical Theatre.
Rosalia Maresca
FOUNDER OF THE FLORIDA LYRIC OPERA
Ms. Maresca was born in Manhattan, New York City.  Both of her parents are from Sorrento, Italy. They loved music and passed on their passion to their daughter. As a young child, Ms. Maresca started piano lessons and dreamed of becoming a great opera singer. Her vocal training began when she was 14 years old.
She was a winner on a radio amateur hour at the age of 16. By the time she was 18, she sang her first opera in a fully-staged workshop production. The Brooklyn Academy of Music was the site of her professional debut at the age of 21, when she sang, in the original key, the role of Adalgisa in "Norma".
A few years later, Ms. Maresca sang the very first opera ever presented in Carnegie Hall and appeared there several times later with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. While still in her 20's, Ms. Maresca won the Rockefeller Foundation Award for a year's study in Italy.
After winning a national competition, she made her debut in Milano as "Tosca" with one year engagements which followed throughout Italy. The competition award also included a contract with the Cincinnati Opera where she worked with Tito Capobianco and sang with Sherrill Milnes in a new production of "I Pagliacci". An extensive North American/Canadian opera tour with the New York Opera Festival followed.
Later, while under contract with Columbia Artists, Ms. Maresca enjoyed a national concert tour with the "Bel Canto Trio." Afterward she became very active with European and National tours as part of the President's International Cultural Exchange Program.
Representing the United States, Ms. Maresca took part in a world-wide "Madam Butterfly" competition held in Japan. As one of ten finalists, she traveled throughout the country.
