Sylvia Poggioli is senior European correspondent for NPR's International Desk covering political, economic, and cultural news in Italy, the Vatican, Western Europe, and the Balkans. Poggioli's on-air reporting and analysis have encompassed the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the turbulent civil war in the former Yugoslavia, and how immigration has transformed European societies.
Andrew Kurtz has opera roots. He attended his first opera at the age of 10. His first job was for a professional opera company. “I even ran an opera company in Philadelphia for 16 years,” said Kurtz. His long-range plan is to include fully staged opera performances in Gulf Coast Symphony’s repertoire as early as next season.