Helping to establish the company was composer-conductor Anton Coppola, Opera Tampa's founding artistic director from 1996 until he retired in 2012.
The festival opened with A Masked Ball (Un Ballo in Maschera) and closed with La Bohème, the company's major opera productions for 2013.
[5] The Straz's 2,600-seat Carol Morsani Hall is the primary venue for the company's major productions.
In 2008, Opera Tampa announced it would honor its founding director by establishing The Anton Coppola Excellence in the Arts Award.
The annual award is given to recognize an artist for significant contributions to Opera Tampa and the music world at large, and specifically for extraordinary work in the cultivation and care of the operatic art form.