Our Staff
Dr. Joan Ortega-Cowan
Executive Director
Joan was born in New Jersey, and moved with her family to Cocoa, Florida when she was a young teenager when her father took an engineering position at Cape Canaveral Space Center (now Kennedy Space Center). She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Rollins College, with focus on history, political science and foreign languages. She earned her Doctoral Degree from Florida Atlantic University in Higher Education Management. She first discovered opera in Paris at a performance of Tales of Hoffmann at the Opera Comique. "My husband, Román, actually introduced me to the world of opera since he is an operatic baritone and knows practically every opera written," she says. "We have attended opera performances all over the world."
In 1988, Rosemary Gagliardi asked them to become involved in the Vero Beach Opera Guild which they did. Joan has served as a Board Member, President and Executive Director during the past 21 years.
She has sung in the choruses of Carmen, Madama Butterfly and La Traviata. "La bohème is my favorite because of the music but also because it takes place in one of my favorite cities – Paris. I speak several foreign languages so attending operas gives me an opportunity to enjoy operas even more."
Tania Ortega-Cowan
Marketing Director
Tania's photo and bio coming soon!
Rachel LeBon
Administrative Director
Rachel grew up in Vero Beach. She studied at the University of Central Florida and earned her B.M.E. in Music Education, and B.S. in Psychology. She majored in voice and discovered opera in her extensive music history classes. "I fell in love with the drama and passion behind all of the music as well as the set and costume design involved in every production," she says. She was introduced to Vero Beach Opera through her husband, John LeBon, who is the VBHS Performing Arts Center director and our Assistant Stage Manager. She began working with Toni Lemoine and Paula Andreozzi in costumes. She worked backstage for our 2023 L'Elisir d'Amore and served as Stage Manager for our 2023 Rising Stars Vocal Competition. She is now our permanent Stage Manager, and our Administrative Director. Her two favorite operas are Carmen and Don Giovanni. "Carmen has such raw and powerful music and always invokes a wide spectrum of emotions," she says. "Don Giovanni was the opera that first captured my interest. I was thrilled to stage manage Vero Beach Opera's 2024 production of Don Giovanni and be a part of making it come to life."
Paula Andreozzi
Bookkeeping
Paula does so much for Vero Beach Opera! Her bio is coming soon.