Industry News
Straz Center Announces Substantial Gift from Dr. Zena Lansky
Tampa, Fla. - David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts President and CEO Judith Lisi today announced a substantial gift from Dr. Zena Lansky to Opera Tampa, the resident opera company of the Straz Center. The company has been endowed with a $1 million dollar gift that will name the Dr. Zena Lansky Endowed Principal Artist. This naming will apply to the principal performer in all Opera Tampa productions in perpetuity.
“This wonderful gift from Dr. Lansky will allow us to continue the growth and deepening of Opera Tampa’s programming,” Lisi said. “Since our inaugural production of Madame Butterfly in 1996, our company has grown into a major force on the opera scene. And thanks to the generosity of Tampa Bay area opera lovers such as Dr. Lansky, this boost to the Opera Tampa endowment will help to secure the future of this beautiful and revered art form.”
“We are so privileged to have Opera Tampa in our community – and so fortunate that the company is led by such knowledgeable and passionate advocates as Judy Lisi, Anton Coppola, Maria Zouves and Sherrill Milnes,” said Lansky, who makes her home in Clearwater, Fla., with her husband Warren L. Rodgers. Introduced to opera at an early age, Lansky has developed a deep appreciation for the training and technique involved in what she calls “the highest form of art.” “I think of this as the ‘lead’ gift to Opera Tampa,” Lansky continued. “Since such a small percentage of operating costs are actually covered by ticket sales it is my hope that this gift encourages others to thoughtfully and generously support the work of this outstanding company.”
Lansky is a nationally recognized expert in specialized nutrition and one of the few physicians in the Southeast with extensive training in this field. She is the inventor of several medical aids that enhance the quality of life for thousands of nutritionally deficient patients throughout the country. Lansky earned research honors while an exchange scholar at Guy's Hospital in London, one of the world's most famous teaching hospitals. She completed her residency at New York University's Bellevue Hospital, where she distinguished herself as the first female chief surgical resident. Lansky was the first female in the department of surgery at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater and the first woman to be chief of surgery at the hospital. In addition, Lansky is the author of numerous articles on home infusion published in national medical journals since 1968. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, on the board of the Morton Plant Mease Foundation, a member of the quality committee of the hospital Nutritional Support. Her many professional affiliations included advising local and state health-care boards in the field of nutrition support. She was also an advisor to Medicare Part B in Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN); Enteral Nutrition reimbursement. The Bardmoor Outpatient Center in Largo, Fla., will soon be named in honor of Dr. Lansky.
As they do every year, the Opera Tampa artistic team, which includes Lisi, Conductor Anton Coppola, Vice President/Associate General Director Maria Zouves and Artistic Advisor Sherrill Milnes, has designed an entertaining, compelling and stimulating season for 2010-2011 that the impassioned opera-going audiences here in the Tampa Bay area are certain to embrace. The season, presented by Homes by Helen, includes Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow (featuring Dr. Zena Lansky Endowed Principal Artist Rochelle Bard, soprano) and Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata (featuring Dr. Zena Lansky Endowed Principal Artist Elizabeth de Trejo, soprano) along with A Night of Stars: A Special Orchestra Concert in honor of, and in the presence of, world-renowned opera superstar and 2011 Anton Coppola Excellence in the Arts Award recipient Plácido Domingo.
Opening in 1987, the Straz Center consists of five theaters, three restaurants and the Patel Conservatory. The 335,000 square-foot facility provides an environment for a wide variety of world-class events. It boasts one of the nation's leading Broadway series and is nationally respected for presenting a wide variety of concerts, performances and events and, of course, for its resident company Opera Tampa. For more information about the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Tampa, the Patel Conservatory and their upcoming events, please visit www.strazcenter.org and www.operatampa.org.
CONTACT: Paul Bilyeu, 813.222.1050 - paul.bilyeu@strazcenter.org or Tara McNamara, 813.222.1059 - tara.mcnamara@strazcenter.org
“This wonderful gift from Dr. Lansky will allow us to continue the growth and deepening of Opera Tampa’s programming,” Lisi said. “Since our inaugural production of Madame Butterfly in 1996, our company has grown into a major force on the opera scene. And thanks to the generosity of Tampa Bay area opera lovers such as Dr. Lansky, this boost to the Opera Tampa endowment will help to secure the future of this beautiful and revered art form.”
“We are so privileged to have Opera Tampa in our community – and so fortunate that the company is led by such knowledgeable and passionate advocates as Judy Lisi, Anton Coppola, Maria Zouves and Sherrill Milnes,” said Lansky, who makes her home in Clearwater, Fla., with her husband Warren L. Rodgers. Introduced to opera at an early age, Lansky has developed a deep appreciation for the training and technique involved in what she calls “the highest form of art.” “I think of this as the ‘lead’ gift to Opera Tampa,” Lansky continued. “Since such a small percentage of operating costs are actually covered by ticket sales it is my hope that this gift encourages others to thoughtfully and generously support the work of this outstanding company.”
Lansky is a nationally recognized expert in specialized nutrition and one of the few physicians in the Southeast with extensive training in this field. She is the inventor of several medical aids that enhance the quality of life for thousands of nutritionally deficient patients throughout the country. Lansky earned research honors while an exchange scholar at Guy's Hospital in London, one of the world's most famous teaching hospitals. She completed her residency at New York University's Bellevue Hospital, where she distinguished herself as the first female chief surgical resident. Lansky was the first female in the department of surgery at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater and the first woman to be chief of surgery at the hospital. In addition, Lansky is the author of numerous articles on home infusion published in national medical journals since 1968. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, on the board of the Morton Plant Mease Foundation, a member of the quality committee of the hospital Nutritional Support. Her many professional affiliations included advising local and state health-care boards in the field of nutrition support. She was also an advisor to Medicare Part B in Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN); Enteral Nutrition reimbursement. The Bardmoor Outpatient Center in Largo, Fla., will soon be named in honor of Dr. Lansky.
As they do every year, the Opera Tampa artistic team, which includes Lisi, Conductor Anton Coppola, Vice President/Associate General Director Maria Zouves and Artistic Advisor Sherrill Milnes, has designed an entertaining, compelling and stimulating season for 2010-2011 that the impassioned opera-going audiences here in the Tampa Bay area are certain to embrace. The season, presented by Homes by Helen, includes Franz Lehár's The Merry Widow (featuring Dr. Zena Lansky Endowed Principal Artist Rochelle Bard, soprano) and Giuseppe Verdi's La Traviata (featuring Dr. Zena Lansky Endowed Principal Artist Elizabeth de Trejo, soprano) along with A Night of Stars: A Special Orchestra Concert in honor of, and in the presence of, world-renowned opera superstar and 2011 Anton Coppola Excellence in the Arts Award recipient Plácido Domingo.
Opening in 1987, the Straz Center consists of five theaters, three restaurants and the Patel Conservatory. The 335,000 square-foot facility provides an environment for a wide variety of world-class events. It boasts one of the nation's leading Broadway series and is nationally respected for presenting a wide variety of concerts, performances and events and, of course, for its resident company Opera Tampa. For more information about the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts, Opera Tampa, the Patel Conservatory and their upcoming events, please visit www.strazcenter.org and www.operatampa.org.
CONTACT: Paul Bilyeu, 813.222.1050 - paul.bilyeu@strazcenter.org or Tara McNamara, 813.222.1059 - tara.mcnamara@strazcenter.org
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