FGO Joins Opera and Pro Sports in a Musical Crossover in Miami

Jazz guitarist and former New York Yankee Bernie Williams and tenor Jonathan Tetelman, shown in photo at Carnegie Hall, are bringing their music to Miami in a collaboration with Florida Grand Opera on Wednesday, May 6. (Photo by Bill Menzel, courtesy of FGO)

Opera lives in formal concert halls steeped in centuries old repertoire, while sports thrives on stadium noise, locker room, and competitive intensity.

On Wednesday, May 6, at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami, the two worlds will share a stage.

Florida Grand Opera is partnering with AllStar Encore, a project founded by former baseball player, attorney, and opera singer Adam Unger, for a one-night performance that brings together opera tenor Jonathan Tetelman, former New York Yankee and guitarist Bernie Williams, music icon Willy Chirino, and the Pro Players Group, NFL alumni who traded the locker room for the vocal arena.

Miami audiences will see an extension of what Williams and Tetelman performed together at Carnegie Hall in Ungar’s AllStar Encore this past January. The tested pairing will now be expanded for a Miami audience, blending operatic arias with Williams’ own compositions and guitar work.

The Williams-Teteleman performance is expected to hew closely to the Carnegie Hall selections which include Williams backing up Tetelman on the aria “E lucevan le stelle,” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera “Tosca,” along with “La donna è mobile,” from Guiseppi Verdi’s “Rigoletto.”

Williams, who played 16 seasons with the New York Yankees before turning fully toward music, has built a second career as a guitarist and composer. For him, the connection between disciplines is less surprising than it might appear.

The Pro Players Group members have traded their jerseys for the microphone. From left to right, standing Nathan Palmer, Cam Newton, Keshun Freeman, Olrick Johnson, Bryan Scott. Seated are Demarcus Williams and Stephen Pierce. (Photo by Skyler Pierce, courtesy of FGO)

He learned guitar at 8 years old, attending a performing arts high school in his native Puerto Rico before pursuing baseball. Once retired his efforts focused on serious guitar work, study and performance. He earned a bachelor’s of music degree in 2016 from the Manhattan School of Music. “I always thought of music as an integral part of my life,” he says, noting a step-by-step progression into performance. “It just happened organically.” Williams composes original works, and his 2009 contemporary jazz album “Moving Forward” was nominated for a Latin Grammy.”

When approached by Unger to partner with tenor Tetelman, Williams was in. “I thought it was a great opportunity,” he says. This, despite not intimately knowing the opera repertoire, though his studies gave him a classical music grounding.

“You have the same attitude about both disciplines,” Williams says. The focus must be on hard work, practice, learning the fundamentals and doing the work.

Unger also discovered another partnership based in like mindedness with Maria Todaro, general director of Florida Grand Opera.

“She was the first person in opera who really believed in my idea,” says Ungar, who has been pondering for a decade about matching musically inclined athletes with vocal artists. With Todaro’s enthusiasm and input the idea crystalized. “Now a serious opera company wanted to do it,” Unger says.

Todaro believes the mix of sports and opera makes sense.

“It’s not a very different language,” just a different expression. And both unite people, she says. “We have a similar mission of communication.”

Maria Todaro, Florida Grand Opera General Director, has been at the helm of the organization since 2023. (Photo by
Lewis Valdes, courtesy of FGO)

For Opera & AllStars, Todaro said she seized the chance to build wellness initiatives into the artistic foundation. “There is a second, deeper layer.”

The other draw of the night, is the Pro Players Group, an inspirational choir of former NFL players who perform gospel, soul, Pop, and R&B. They launched in 2024.

“It happened organically, the guys collectively started the group,” says Cam Newton, best known as a safety with the Atlanta Falcons and the Carolina Panthers, and a co-founder of Pro Players. “It is not unheard of for players – many of whom grew up in the church – to sing in the locker room.”

Co-founder Olrick Johnson, a former linebacker with the New York Jets and New England Patriots, says “our main thing is to let people know you can have more than one gift.”

Todaro hopes those who have never been to the opera come away enthused, comparing it to when someone first tastes an unfamiliar dish. “Just have a little bite,” she said. “Then have another.”

WHAT: Opera & AllStars

WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday, May 6

 WHERE: Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami

 COST: $135, $120, $95, $75, $50 and $25

 INFORMATION: (800) 741-1010 or https://fgo.org/season25-26/opera-and-all-stars/

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