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INTERNATIONAL PIANISTS AND FOUNDERS OF THE BEAUX ARTS CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES TAO LIN AND CATHERINE LAN,
WITH RAMÓN TEBAR AND DENNIS HANTHORN

Culture, Community and Collaboration
My Vision for Opera Naples

D ennis Hanthorn, the recently appointed General Director of Opera
Naples, shares his vision for the decade-old opera company.
I’d like to say immediately how happy I am to be invited to reach out to
you in this way. I’m delighted to be working in such a welcoming community as

Naples, and to have an opportunity to be a part of and to make a contribution to

the extraordinarily diverse cultural landscape here.

I bring to Opera Naples 30 years of leadership with three other opera

companies of stature. I plan for this knowledge not only to benefit Opera Naples

but the entire community through collaboration whenever possible with other

cultural groups and initiatives in town.

I’ve leaned that artistic excellence; innovative vision; community

relevance, and financial stability are the keystones of a successful cultural

enterprise.

So those are my goals for Opera Naples, and I will be working with

the Board and staff to build relationships and implement strategies to

achieve them.

And I hope I will be working with you, the members of this

community. Because ours is the city’s opera company, one we hope

the people of Naples will look to with pride and will encourage and

support us as we grow.

Why should you? There are many reasons. Of course, one is to

help keep the rich heritage of world-class opera alive and well.

Others are less obvious. For example, the presence of an opera

company is known to improve property values; another, is we

are an important part of keeping the love of music alive and

well in the hearts of our children.

We are proud of our outreach programs in Lee and Collier

county schools, introducing thousands of youngsters to the
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Life in Naples | February 2016