FLORIDA GRAND OPERA WELCOMES NEW INDIVIDUAL GIVING OFFICER
Florida Grand Opera welcomes Carlton Ford as Individual Giving Officer
MIAMI – December 10, 2015 – Florida Grand Opera (FGO) is pleased to welcome former Young Artist Carlton Ford as the newest member of the team. Mr. Ford will join the development staff as an Individual Giving Officer and focus on the various fundraising initiatives.
Most recently Mr. Ford served as a Freelance Field Consultant for Gagen MacDonald, where he supported the company’s work in organizational culture, as well as leadership and leader communication workshops.
An accomplished baritone, Mr. Ford spent a decade working as a professional opera singer, performing in Europe and throughout the United States. During the FGO’s 2013–14 Season, Mr. Ford was a member of FGO’s prestigious Young Artist Program. During his season with the company, he performed in many community events as well as on the mainstage in FGO’s 2014 production of Massenet’s Thaïs.
“As a young black boy growing up in Chicago's inner-city in the late-80s, the course of my life had an expected end. I've had the pleasure to have the trajectory of my life altered by the power and purpose of opera,” says Ford. “My first encounter with opera was watching a VHS of the Three Tenors as an 11 year-old. I had no idea what these men were doing, nevertheless singing about. What I knew was that my horizons had just been stretched infinitely giving me both a vision for my future and a mission and a power to reshape my present. God gave me a gift, and opera gave me a voice. FGO has been that vehicle that has empowered me to take my gift to the next level.”
About Florida Grand Opera
Florida Grand Opera (FGO), the oldest performing arts organization in Florida, celebrates its 75th year of continuously producing grand opera during the 2015-16 Season. The mainstage operas of the season include: Gioachino Rossini’s The Barber of Seville, November 14–December 5, 2015; Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma, January 23–February 13, 2016; Mieczsław Weinberg's The Passenger, April 2–9, 2016; and Gaetano Donizetti's Don Pasquale, May 7–14, 2016.
FGO is now asking all those who enjoy and support grand opera in South Florida to make their gifts or pledge today. For more information, or to make a pledge please contact our Individual Giving Officer Carlton Ford at cford@fgo.org or 305.403.3320.
Founded in 1941 as Greater Miami Opera and later merging with The Opera Guild Inc. in 1994, FGO presents a mixture of standard repertoire and contemporary works as well as commissions and new productions – all featuring projected translations in English and Spanish. FGO is recognized for funding by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding is also provided, in part, by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau, the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs, Cultural Affairs Council, the Mayor and the Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners and the Miami-Dade County Tourist Development Council. Program support is provided by the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs Program, Cultural Arts Council. Florida Grand Opera is a Resident Company of the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County and a member company of OPERA America. Intercontinental Miami is the Official Hotel and Steinway & Sons is the Official Piano of Florida Grand Opera.
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