"'It just seemed like a natural with all of her contacts and all the people she knows in the business," Heuer told The Miami Herald, "to put this together.''
In June, the 78-year-old Drucker was ousted as the Concert Association's president by that organization's board of directors. The move was reportedly the result of conflict with newly appointed CEO Al Milano as well as frustration on the board's part with persistent deficits.
At Florida Grand Opera, Drucker's duties will include talent-scouting and advising Heuer and music director Stewart Robinson on repertoire and casting. In addition, she will create a new series in which FGO will present internationally renowned singers — the sort who, as the Herald observed, might be unable or unwilling to commit to six weeks in Miami for a fully staged opera.
FGO plans to launch Drucker's new concert series with three programs in the 2008-09 season.
For her part, Drucker — who began her career in the arts as a singer in the chorus of Florida Grand Opera (then called Opera Guild of Miami) in 1947 — said to the Herald, "You can't keep me down ... It's like going back home."