People

Carla Calavitta is the Development Director for Opera Naples. For over fifteen years, Carla has served nonprofits in New York City and Los Angeles, building donor and member bases and leading corporate and private fundraising. Beginning in 2004 at the New York Botanical Garden, she then went on to lead membership and development departments for the Natural History Museum of LA County and the Ecology Center in San Juan Capistrano.  In 2008 Carla was one of the founding staff members for the GRAMMY Museum @ L.A. LIVE, there she built the initial donor experience, creating a thriving museum audience from 0 -4,000 members and donors.

Robin Shuford Frank is Chorus Master, Music Administrator, and Director of Educational Outreach for Opera Naples, for which she also serves as Musical Director for youth productions. She engages Southwest Florida’s youth through the company’s Student Apprentice Program, community outreach performances, Elementary In-School Tours, and Young Artist Program. An accomplished pianist, she serves as the rehearsal pianist for Opera Naples’ main productions as well as the pianist for community concerts and events. As chorus master, she prepares the adult and children’s choruses for all productions in which they appear. She is also the company’s orchestra personnel manager and librarian. Aside from her work with Opera Naples, Frank is the accompanist for The Festival Singers of Florida and also frequently performs with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra and The Naples Players. She is a frequently sought guest accompanist for choral festivals around the country.

Prior to moving to Naples, Frank was an Adjunct Professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University, a rehearsal pianist for Palm Beach Opera, an Artist in Residence for Bak Middle School of the Arts, and a Pianist/Coach for Opera New Jersey. Frank has been an Adjunct Professor at Florida Gulf Coast University in the Bower School of Music since 2009. She has a Masters degree from Westminster Choir College in Accompanying and Vocal Coaching and a Bachelors degree in Music Education from The Florida State University.

Robert Signom III (Director of Production) has been working in production for over nineteen years.  As Production Manager, he has worked for The American Opera Project, Tri-Cities Opera, Foundry Arts, Opera Saratoga, Signature Theatre, Gotham Chamber Opera, Aspen Opera Theatre Center, Ensemble Studio Theatre, HERE Arts Center, NJPAC, and many others. As Stage Manager, he has called over fifty productions in New York, and more regionally.  He is an Eagle Scout, Assistant Scoutmaster, Curator of America’s Packard Museum, and a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Leah has appeared extensively throughout Europe and the US. She has performed leading roles at the Vienna Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg Opera, New York City Opera, Dallas Opera, Opera Colorado, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Naples, Pittsburgh Opera, Juilliard Opera Center, Opera Orchestra of New York with Eve Queller at Carnegie Hall. A soloist with the NY Chamber Orchestra, the Ensemble Musica Sacra in Salzburg, the Tanglewood Music Festival Orchestra, the New Juilliard Ensemble, the New York Festival of Song and Music Niagara in Canada. She has recorded Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Dallas Symphony and solo songs by Stephan Volpe.

A recipient of a Fulbright scholarship to Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Vienna, Austria, a Herbert von Karajan grant from the Vienna Staatsoper, a William Matheus Sullivan career grant, and a finalist of the Richard Tucker Foundation Awards. She is a graduate of the University of Miami and the Juilliard School in NYC.