Company Profile
Sarasota Opera
Company Overview
Based in Florida's beautiful Gulf Coast, Sarasota Opera, in its 66th season, produces impassioned opera performances true to the vision of the composer, to entertain, enrich, educate, and inspire a life-long love of opera in our diverse and growing communities.
Since 1983, Sarasota Opera has been under the artistic leadership of Victor DeRenzi. Under Maestro DeRenzi, Sarasota Opera has garnered international attention with its Masterwork Revivals Series, which presents neglected works of artistic merit, as well as for its Verdi Cycle producing the complete works of Giuseppe Verdi. Recognizing the importance of training, Maestro DeRenzi founded the Apprentice Artist and Studio Artist programs. Sarasota Opera also maintains a commitment to education through its performances for local schools and the unique Sarasota Youth Opera program. Richard Russell was named Executive Director in 2012, after serving as General Director of Opera New Jersey and Sarasota Opera’s Director of Marketing. He was made General Director in 2021. Under his leadership, the company has increased contributed revenue, more than doubled the size of the endowment, constructed a 30-unit apartment complex for artist housing, and acquired the Malabar Ltd. costume collection to dramatically increase Sarasota Opera’s costume rental business.
The company owns and performs in the 1,129 seat Sarasota Opera House. Opened in 1926 as the A.B. Edwards Theatre, the facility was originally a vaudeville and movie theater. Purchased by the company in 1979, it was reopened in 1984 and renamed the Sarasota Opera House. The company completed a $20 million dollar historic renovation and restoration in 2008. The project was designed to restore the historic 1926 theater to its original glory, while creating a venue for opera for the 21st century.
Company History
The Asolo Opera Guild was founded in 1961 to support annual visits by the touring Turnau Opera Players to the Asolo Theatre on the grounds of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. Featuring emerging singers, the annual opera season was a highlight in Sarasota's cultural life. The charming theater accommodated 350 patrons and chamber-sized productions with accompaniment by two pianos or chamber orchestra.
In 1974 the Guild formed the Asolo Opera Company to mount their own productions. In 1979 the Asolo Opera Guild purchased the Florida Theater (originally the A.B. Edwards Theatre), which was originally opened in 1926 to host films, vaudeville, and live performances. The Guild renovated the theater over the next 5 years and reopened it as the Sarasota Opera House in 1984, with the company renamed "Sarasota Opera". In the new theater the company could perform with full orchestra and a professional chorus of 24 apprentice artists.
In 1982 Victor DeRenzi became Artistic Director and Principal Conductor. He oversaw the expansion of the company into world-class producer of opera. He started the Apprentice Program in 1983, the Sarasota Youth Opera in 1985, and the Studio Aritist Program in 1989. From 1989 the company embarked on an effort to produce all of the works of Giuseppe Verdi, concluding in 2016, as well as a Masterworks Revival Series to produce neglected works of artistic merit.
The company continues to present the only Winter Opera Festival in the U.S. during February and March and in 2008 launched a fall opera season, presenting one opera or a concert and an annual Youth Opera production.