Anton Coppola to Opera Tampa and the music world at large, and specifically for extraordinary work in the cultivation and care of the operatic art form. Coppola himself was recipient of the award in 2012, the year of his retirement. Anton Coppola Antonio Francesco Coppola (born March 21, 1917) is an American opera conductor and composer. He is the uncle of film director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, as well as the grand-uncle of Nicolas Cage, Sofia Coppola, Gian-Carlo Coppola, Jason Schwartzman and Robert Schwartzman, and is the younger brother of American composer and musician Carmine Coppola. Coppola started his
Francis Ford Coppola influenced to become a writer early on by his brother, August, in whose footsteps he would also follow by attending both of his brother's alma maters: Hofstra and UCLA. Coppola also gives credit to the work of Elia Kazan and for its influence on him as a director. Amongst Coppola's classmates at Hofstra were James Caan, Lainie Kazan and radio artist Joe Frank. He later cast Lainie Kazan in "One from the Heart" and Caan in "The Rain People" and "The Godfather". While pursuing his bachelor's degree, Coppola was elected president of the university's drama group, The Green Wig, and