Sarasota Opera Celebrates 60th Season With Diamond Anniversary Concert And Dinner

On Friday April 5, 2019, Sarasota Opera will present a concert and dinner in commemoration of their 60th season of bringing world-class opera to Florida's Gulf Coast. The festivities will begin at 5pm in the historic Sarasota Opera House, with selections from the most celebrated moments of Sarasota Opera's 60 seasons. Sopranos Kara Shay Thomson and Hanna Brammer, tenor Jonathan Burton, baritone Marco Nisticò, and bass Young Bok Kim with John Spencer IV at the piano will sing highlights including "Vissi d'arte" from Puccini's Tosca, "Cortigiani vil razza dannata" from Verdi's Rigoletto, the trio from Gounod's Faust, the duet from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers, and Catalani's beloved "Ebben! Ne andrò lontana" from La Wally. Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi and Executive Director Richard Russell will host the event.

The concert will be followed by a Celebration Dinner at the Art Ovation Hotel. The event co-chairs for Sarasota Opera's Diamond Anniversary Celebration are Carolyn Ann Holder and Ann Magee. Corporate sponsors for the event are PNC Bank and the law firm of Williams, Parker, Harrison, Dietz & Getzen. The media sponsor is Sarasota Magazine.

Tickets for the concert start at $10. The Diamond Anniversary Celebration Dinner is $295 per person and includes premium seating at the concert. For more information, visit SarasotaOpera.org, contact the Sarasota Opera Box Office at (941) 328-1300 or visit the box office at 61 N. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236.

ABOUT SARASOTA OPERA

Sarasota Opera is celebrating its 60th Season of bringing world-class opera to Florida's Gulf Coast. The company was launched in 1960, when a touring chamber opera company came to the historic 320-seat Asolo Theater on the grounds of Sarasota's Ringling Museum of Art. The following year the Asolo Opera Guild was formed to present the season. By 1974 the Asolo Opera was mounting its own productions at the theater. Recognizing the need for a theater more conducive to full-scale opera, the company purchased the former A.B. Edwards Theater which in 1984 (as the Sarasota Opera House) became home to the newly renamed Sarasota Opera. The building underwent a $20 million renovation and rehabilitation in 2007 enhancing audience amenities, while updating the technical facilities, including increasing the size of the orchestra pit. The theater, which reopened in March 2008, has been called "one of America's finest venues for opera" by Musical America.

Since 1983, the company has been under the artistic leadership of Victor DeRenzi and administrative leadership of Executive Director Richard Russell since 2012. Sarasota Opera has garnered international attention with its Masterwork Revivals Series, which presents neglected works of artistic merit, as well as the Verdi Cycle, completed in 2016, that made Sarasota Opera the only opera company in the world to present all of Verdi's works. Recognizing the importance of training, Maestro DeRenzi founded the Apprentice and Studio Artists programs. Sarasota Opera also maintains a commitment to education through its Explorations in Opera performances for local schools and the industry-leading Sarasota Youth Opera program.

Sarasota Opera is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Programs are supported in part by an award from the Tourist Development Tax through the Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council and the Sarasota County Arts Council. Additional funding is provided by the City of Sarasota and the County of Sarasota.

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