Straz Center Appoints Matthew Wolf As COO

Straz Center President and CEO Greg Holland has announced the appointment of Matthew Wolf as chief operating officer of Tampa's David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts.

Wolf is a seasoned entertainment professional with more than two decades of leadership experience in venue management, programming and operations in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Serving as executive director, he managed the $95 million restoration of Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, N.Y. and as the general manager, the $56 million restoration of the historic Philadelphia Metropolitan Opera House.

He was vice president of programming and theatrical presentations with Ensemble Arts Philly and executive director of programming for Broadway Across America, a former division of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. Additionally, Wolf was associate director of theatrical operations for SFX Entertainment, a contract manager with Columbia Artists Management and managed the Central Park Stage for the City Parks Foundation in New York City.

Wolf holds a Bachelor of Arts in music from the University of Connecticut and is a classically trained opera singer.

The David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts is one of the largest performing arts complexes in the country. The 335,000 square-foot Straz Center provides an environment for a wide variety of world-class events. It boasts one of the nation's leading Broadway series and is nationally respected for producing grand opera, as well as presenting a wide variety of concerts, performances, and events. In a typical season, more than 600,000 patrons attend 1,500+ events at the Straz Center. The Straz is also home to the Patel Conservatory which annually serves nearly 65,000 students with a variety of educational activities and classes, Opera Tampa and its resident theater company, Jobsite Theater.