If your idea of opera is a three-hour aria about gods and swans, “Love v. Death” might catch you off guard. And that’s exactly how composer Tom Sivak likes it.
A longtime musical-theatre conductor turned St. Pete composer, Sivak’s new work—opening this weekend with Opera Tampa—isn’t interested in spectacle for spectacle’s sake. It’s a pair of true stories about ordinary people who stumbled into extraordinary circumstances, stitched together by humor, heartbreak, and a title that promises exactly what it delivers.
“Opera is such a wide-ranging genre,” Sivak said. “It’s very inclusive of many different approaches… I’m telling a story, and of course, it’s in English.”
Two acts, one obsession
“Love v. Death” unfolds as two one-hour operas linked by the same tug-of-war between devotion and mortality.
Act I follows Carl von Cosel, a Key West X-ray technician in the 1930s who fell for a young Cuban immigrant dying of tuberculosis. After she passed, he famously exhumed her body and lived with it for seven years.
It’s the kind of tale that could only happen in Florida—part gothic romance, part tabloid fever dream. Sivak read von Cosel’s own diary (yes, it exists) and wove the man’s real words into his libretto.
“His love was so big it required someone singing high A-flats,” he joked. “He didn’t feel that he did anything wrong. He just loved her.”
Absurd? Absolutely. But that’s what drew him in. Sivak writes for the moment where the grotesque crosses into empathy—when the audience laughs, then feels uncomfortable for laughing.
Act II shifts tone to Mary Mallon, the Irish-born cook better known as Typhoid Mary. The first documented asymptomatic superspreader, she was blamed for infecting dozens of New Yorkers and ultimately quarantined for life without trial.
“Everyone that she cares for is taken from her,” Sivak said. “She doesn’t know why—and when they tell her, she can’t believe it.”
With scant details about Mallon’s private life, Sivak imagined one for her. His Mary isn’t a headline; she’s a woman whose love keeps killing the people she feeds.Where von Cosel’s devotion defeats death, Mallon’s affection becomes her curse.
“Both stories are dark comedies,” he said. “Don’t be afraid just because death sounds horrific.”
How a one-act turned into a world premiere
The project began in 2019, when Creative Pinellas awarded Sivak a grant to produce a one-act opera at The Palladium. Among the cast was Melissa Misener, a young performer who later became a director at Opera Tampa.
Years later, Misener called him with an idea: write a companion act and make it a full evening.
“She asked if I’d be willing to write a second act,” Sivak recalled. “That’s how we got here.”
This weekend’s production—directed by Misener and conducted by Robin Andrew Stamper—features a cast of 11 and a six-piece orchestra. It’s part of Opera Tampa’s continued push toward new American works, staged in the Jaeb Theater’s intimate setting.
Between musical theatre and the opera house
Sivak’s career straddles both worlds. He spent decades conducting shows like “Fiddler and Guys and Dolls” before devoting his retirement to composition full-time. That musical-theatre DNA is what makes “Love v. Death” tick: the melodies are approachable, the stories sharply drawn, and the emotions immediate.
He’s not simplifying opera; he’s personalizing it.He writes for people who might walk into a theatre unsure what to expect—and walk out surprised they were moved.
“One woman told me, ‘I don’t like opera, and I was surprised how much I enjoyed this,’” he said. “That’s exactly who I wrote it for.”
For Sivak, opera isn’t about grandiosity—it’s about truth sung loud enough to shake the room. In “Love v. Death,” that truth is messy, morbid, and funny as hell.
Why it matters
“Love v. Death” arrives at a time when opera companies across the country are rethinking what “opera” even means: shorter runtimes, real-world stories, and music that meets audiences where they are.
Sivak’s work fits squarely in that movement—but with a Florida twist. He’s not staging Greek tragedy; he’s staging our own history’s weirdest headlines and asking what they reveal about the way we love.
“Love v. Death” doesn’t ask whether love conquers all. It asks what happens when it refuses to die.
“Opera, for me,” Sivak said, “is about telling human stories—sometimes strange, sometimes funny—but always honest.”
Opera Tampa: Love V. Death
Time Sat., Nov. 1, 2 p.m. and Sun., Nov. 2, 2 p.m. 2025
Location David A. Straz Center – Jaeb Theater, 1010 N Macinnes Pl, Tampa
Description “Love v. Death” unfolds as two one-hour operas linked by the same tug-of-war between devotion and mortality.—Avery Anderson/TB Arts Passport
This post first appeared at TB Arts Passport, which is part of the Tampa Bay Journalism Project (TBJP), a nascent Creative Loafing Tampa Bay effort supported by grants and a coalition of donors who make specific contributions via the Alternative Newsweekly Foundation.
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This article appears in Oct. 30 – Nov. 5, 2025.