Meet the Divas

Soprano Birgit Fioravante has performed a wide range of repertoire encompassing opera, concert and recital music. Highlights of her career include the role of Fricka from Wagner’s Ring with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, soprano soloist for Verdi’s Requiem with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, recorded and broadcast on NPR, and mezzo soloist in Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony with famed Mahler scholar, Gilbert Kaplan conducting. She has covered many international stars’ roles as well, including for Deborah Voigt the title role from Ariadne auf Naxos for Florida Grand Opera. After a New York production of Webers’ Oberon, Jack Heimenz of Musical America wrote “[Fioravante] applied her magnificent plummy soprano to the opera’s best known number and brought down the house.” A FGO production of Suor Angelica with Diana Soviero in the title role had The Miami Herald saying, “the singing is radiant, Birgit Fioravante is the severe monitoring sister to the bone, chastising her charges with vehemence.”

Pianist Dr. Heather Coltman is currently Chair of the Department of Music at Florida Atlantic University, where she is a Professor of Music and the Director of Keyboard Studies. A top prize-winner in numerous major international competitions, she performs extensively throughout North America, Europe, and South Africa. Dr. Coltman made her debut in her native country of Zambia at the age of five, and immigrated to the United States in 1966. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Texas, a Master of Music degree from the Mannes College of Music in New York and Bachelor of Music degree from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. Her recordings can be heard on Wisdom Recordings, Klavier Records, Innova Recordings, Heng Hao Records and Lyra Productions. In addition to her active schedule as a solo performer and recording artist, she is prized by many fellow musicians as a collaborative pianist with deep musical insight and phenomenal technique.