Passionate pianist enjoys range of professional opportunities

Seeing Robin Shuford-Frank's hands dance across a keyboard is something akin to watching a ballet in miniature — each finger deftly placed for perfect effect. But then, performing at the piano is practically second nature for Ms. Shuford-Frank, who began learning to play the instrument before she was old enough to even remember.

Robin Frank at the piano And the piano remains one of her greatest sources of joy.

"One of my favorite things is to sit at the piano and play whatever I'm feeling," she says. "I can create a range of emotions using a variety of tonalities, dynamic levels and physical touch. The scope of possibilities is quite amazing. Playing can truly be a source of therapy.

Ms. Shuford-Frank's mother was her first teacher, and her first job was as the church pianist at age 13.

If you attend any of Naples' musical or theatrical venues, there's a good chance you've heard her play. She's the director of educational outreach, the chorus master and the music administrator for Opera Naples, a professional, self-producing company. In addition, she is the assistant choral director and pianist for the Naples Orchestra and Chorus and the pianist for the Festival Singers of Florida. She also enjoys playing with the Naples Philharmonic, as well as at choral festivals all over the U.S.

Ms. Shuford-Frank grew up on the east coast of Florida and attended Florida State University, where she first majored in piano performance. "I found that area of study to be too solitary for me, so I switched my major to choral music education, with piano as my primary instrument," she says. She went on to receive her master's degree in piano accompanying and vocal coaching at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.

For her, the most difficult aspect of being a pianist is memorizing the music. "That always caused me great anxiety when performing," she says. "Luckily, in the kind of work I do now, I never have to memorize. I actually love to perform."

She sees performing, a challenging endeavor for most musicians, as the art of being in the moment. "You need to have the ability to enter a zone of extreme concentration and confidence," she says. "There's no room for self-doubt or worry."

But she still faces plenty of anxiety-filled situations. Recently, for example, she was flown to Minneapolis, with only a single day's notice, to play with the Broadway tour of "Legally Blonde The Musical."

"Going directly from the airport to the theater to play for a matinee performance was quite nerve-wracking," she says.

Since moving to Naples with her husband Ted two years ago, Ms. Shuford-Frank has enjoyed a wide range of professional musical opportunities. "Part of my personal objective is to expand music education in the area's schools," she says, adding that such outreach is also a key objective for Opera Naples. "I would love to see music programming become a huge priority for kids, but the economy is difficult right now, so we are doing things a little bit at a time."

As supervisor of the company's educational programs throughout the year, she strives to make opera, which she describes as the ultimate combination of all art forms, understandable and accessible for children. "Both musically and visually, opera is completely over the top," she says, adding students of all ages love the productions Opera Naples takes out to area schools. "Even the youngest kids are excited about the shows we put on in their classrooms. We get wonderful cards from them declaring that they love opera and asking us to come and visit them again."

In addition to serving as educational outreach director, Ms. Shuford-Frank is also the musical director of Opera Naples' inten- sive student boot camp, which has its single performance on Sunday, June 28 (see story on page A13). And she's also working on "Thoroughly Modern Millie," the summer musical by The Naples Player that opens Friday, June 26 (see page C6).

So what's it like to work on a student opera and a community theater musical simultaneously? Although the situation is demanding, Ms. Shuford-Frank is not complaining.

"For both shows I am musically directing from the piano, but in 'Millie' I'm only part of the rehearsal process. In 'Pirates' I play for rehearsals as well as the final performance," she explains. "The most difficult part about doing the shows simultaneously is the long hours." And the hours are, indeed, long — often from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. But she's happy to be doing what she loves.

She's especially pleased that area residents have had such a wonderful response to Opera Naples, but she's not surprised. "The company's performances are worldclass, and once audiences see one show, they're anxious to come back again and again," she says.

She identifies the company's biggest challenge as the fact that it doesn't have a facility of its own. "People hear that the performance will be held in a high school auditorium and they don't know what to expect, but once they come out and see a show, they are happy to return the next time."

For those who truly love music, listening to Mr. Shuford-Frank play is a rare treat. "I'm always happy when I'm playing," she says. That goes for her audiences as well.