William Florescu

General Director, Florentine Opera Company

William Florescu became the General Director of Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company in May of 2005. During his tenure, he has overseen the expansion of the Company’s repertoire, producing works including the Florentine’s first Bellini opera (I Capuleti e i Montecchi), first Baroque opera (Handel’s Semele), the Midwest premiere of Aldridge’s Elmer Gantry and a world premiere of Don Davis’s Río de Sangre. He has also directed mainstage operas including The Barber of Seville, The Magic Flute and Rigoletto, as well as touring education operas by nationally renowned arts education expert John Davies, including Little Red’s Most Unusual Day, The Three Little Pigs, Pinocchio (which was televised by Milwaukee Public Television in April of 2009), Jack and the Beanstalk and, most recently, The Billy Goats Gruff. In October of 2008, Mr. Florescu oversaw the creation of the Florentine Opera Studio, a season-long residency program for young professional singers, which enters its third year in the Florentine’s 2010-2011 season.

From 1999 until early 2005, he was the General Director of Lake George Opera in Saratoga Springs, New York. Previously, he served as General Director of the Columbus Light Opera. While in Ohio, he was also Associate Dean and Director of Opera/Musical Theatre at the Capital University Conservatory of Music, and served a season as Assistant Artistic Director for Iowa’s Dorian Opera Theatre.

Opera audiences around the country have seen his work as a stage director, most recently for Augusta Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Nashville Opera, Opera Columbus and Opera Birmingham. On the operatic stage, he has appeared in leading and supporting roles with Opera Columbus, Columbus Light Opera, Iowa’s Dorian Opera, Toledo Opera, National Opera Company and the Whitewater Opera, among others. On the concert stage, he has sung with the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Mansfield Symphony Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, the Indianapolis Summer Pops and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.

He has recently presented masterclasses for Westminster Choir College, Peabody Institute, Capital University, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Lake George Opera. He is also a frequent judge of vocal competitions, most recently for the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, The Eastman School of Music, The Montreal International Czech and Slovak Voice Competition, and Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Vocal Competition.

Mr. Florescu has served on the Opera Review Panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and has served as an on site reporter for the Endowment. He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Cultural Alliance of Greater Milwaukee.

During 2009-2010, in addition to directing I Pagliacci for Opera Columbus, Aida for Opera Birmingham, and Rigoletto for the Florentine, he judged the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Chicago, Washington, and Minneapolis. He presented masterclasses at the University of Minnesota at Minneapolis as part of the Met Auditions, and for the Classical Singer Magazine Convention in New York City. He taught a class on opera at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design for the Spring 2010 semester.

During the 2010-2011 season, he judged the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in Buffalo, NY and the Singer of the Year Contest for Shreveport Opera. He will also direct a double-bill of Venus & Adonis and Dido & Aeneas for the Florentine Opera in May 2011.

Mr. Florescu is currently working on a book about auditioning in opera for young singers. He received his training at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the Trinity College of Music in London, Miami University and the Ohio State University.