Sarasota Opera Will Celebrate Victor DeRenzi's 40th Season

The Sarasota Opera House will be the scene of great celebration on the evening of Saturday, March 26, as the company pays tribute to Maestro DeRenzi's 40th anniversary. Festivities will begin at 5 PM with a reception of passed hors d'oeuvres and libations under a spacious and elegant tent covering Pineapple Avenue. At 6:15 pm inside the Opera House-in the William E. Schmidt Opera Theatre-attendees will enjoy a Jubilee Concert of arias and heartfelt remembrances of a career that changed the face of opera on the Suncoast. The event will feature soprano Anna Mandina, mezzo-soprano Lisa Chavez, tenor Jonathan Burton, baritone Joshua Benaim, and bass Kevin Short. Special video tributes to the Maestro will include numerous past members of the company and celebrities who have performed with opera companies throughout the world.

Tickets for the 6:15 pm Jubilee Concert are $50. Admission to both the concert and the 5:00 pm Grand Reception is $175. A limited number of tickets to the Grand Reception, Jubilee Concert, and Gala Dinner starting at $450 are available until March 11, 2022.

The event is sponsored by Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Williams Parker, Flowers by Fudgie, SCENE Magazine, and Metz Culinary Creations. Maestro's Circle Table Sponsors are Harry Leopold and Gala Committee Chair Audrey Robbins. Gala Committee members are Carol English, Frances D. Fergusson, Carol Lackey, Carla Koeffler, and Elizabeth Moore.

Tickets and more information are available at SarasotaOpera.org, or by calling the Box Office at 941-328-1300. Sarasota Opera is located at 61 N. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236.

ABOUT SARASOTA OPERA

This is Sarasota Opera's 63rd Season of bringing world-class opera to Florida's Gulf Coast. The company was launched in 1960 in the historic 320-seat Asolo Theater on the grounds of Sarasota's Ringling Museum of Art. In 1984 the company moved into the former A.B. Edwards Theater-now the Sarasota Opera House. Since then, the company has gained an international reputation as one of the leading regional opera companies in the U.S. through initiatives such as the Masterworks Revival Series and the Verdi Cycle. The company's Sarasota Youth Opera is the most comprehensive Youth Program in the U.S. The Sarasota Opera House, which underwent a $20 million renovation and rehabilitation in 2007, 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 General Director Richard Russell since 2012.

Sarasota Opera is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Arts and Culture and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts. Programs are paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.