Kurt Loft is a St. Petersburg-based freelance writer with 40 years of experience covering the arts, science, food, and features as a journalist. He writes program notes and blogs for The Florida Orchestra and Bach Festival of Winter Park, stories for Creative Pinellas' online magazine, and science and health stories for Tampa General Hospital and the University of South Florida. After 27 years as a reporter for The Tampa Tribune, Loft worked for 12 years as a lead editor and senior writer at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Now retired, his hobbies include cooking, bicycling, World War II history, and managing a large classical record collection.
When Opera Tampa unveils its lavish, $250,000 production of Verdi's "La Traviata" at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Tampa on Friday, 24-year-old Ashley Dannewitz will realize her goal to debut as an opera singer in her first big stage performance.
What can Tampa Bay learn from Holland? Plenty when it comes to water and the damage it can cause. That's why Dutch scientists are meeting this week in Tampa with academic leaders and first-responders to share innovative ideas for protecting neighborhoods and infrastructure from potential flood damage.