Tucson Lifestyle Magazine features Jill Gardner’s performance of TOSCA with Arizona Opera, January–February 2013. Read the full article here.

“. . . The Southern-born Gardner has a wonderful, lively, engaging personality, and despite the tragedy that befalls Puccini’s heroine, she finds she can identify with the character. ‘I’m drawn to Floria Tosca because in so many ways it’s a role that mirrors my personality. I’m a fiery animal, a very passionate person, and I totally live for love, which is what she does. I’m also an opera singer, just like Tosca. But rather than playing her as a typical diva, I present her as a real woman in love. You get to experience that in Act One, and then the hellcat that she is in Act Two, and finally the vulnerability and the hope that she lives for in Act Three. And that’s me. There are so many parallels between us; it’s just sheer joy to be able to take her to the stage . . .’”