Single Tickets for the 2018-19 Season On Sale ONLINE
Tomorrow: Wednesday, August 1st

Subscriptions on sale now for the new season.

 

July 31, 2018

Contact:
Carlos Vicente (941) 328-8450 x 245
[email protected]

 

 

2018 Fall Season

October 26–November 11, 2018

The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini

The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten
(Sarasota Youth Opera)

2019 Winter Opera Festival

February 9–March 24, 2019

Turandot by Giacomo Puccini

The Magic Flute by W.A. Mozart
 Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

Rita by Gaetano Donizetti & Susanna’s Secret by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
(Sarasota Opera Premieres)

Sarasota, FL – Single tickets will go on sale exclusively ONLINE at sarasotaopera.org tomorrow, Wednesday, August 1st, 2018 for Sarasota Opera’s 2018-19 Diamond Anniversary Season. Highlights include the return of some of Sarasota Opera's most popular productions, including Puccini’s Turandot, and the premieres of two comic operas: Rita (or Two Men and a Woman) by Gaetano Donizetti, and Susanna’s Secret by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari.

Additionally, four and five-opera subscriptions are currently available for purchase. For more information or to secure your subscriptions for the 2018-19 season, go to sarasotaopera.org , contact the Sarasota Opera Box Office at (941) 328-1300, or visit in person at 61 N. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236.

ABOUT THE 2018 FALL SEASON

The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini

Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage

October 26, 28, 31, November 6, 8, 11, 2018

A Sarasota Opera production

A perfect first opera for opera newcomers, The Barber of Seville is an all-time favorite that combines humor, virtuosic singing, and general mayhem that will keep the audience on the edge of their seats.

Baritone Filippo Fontana (Manon Lescaut) will return to the Sarasota Opera stage to sing the title role.

Maestro DeRenzi will conduct and Stephanie Sundine (Manon Lescaut, La traviata) returns to direct.



 

The Little Sweep by Benjamin Britten
Sung in English with English titles displayed above the stage

November 3, 2018 at 5:30 pm, and November 4, 2018 at 12:30 pm
A Sarasota Youth Opera production

Sarasota Youth Opera will present a revival of the acclaimed production of Britten’s charming opera The Little Sweep.

The Opera will be preceded by a prologue created especially for Sarasota Youth Opera by stage director Martha Collins ( Rootabaga Country, The Secret World of Og ), and Youth Opera Music Director and conductor Jesse Martins.

 

ABOUT THE 2019 WINTER OPERA FESTIVAL

Turandot by Giacomo Puccini

Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage 

February 9, 12, 14, 17, 20, 23, 28,
March 3, 8, 15, 17, 20, 22, 2019
A Sarasota Opera production

Turandot will return after making its Sarasota Opera premiere in 2013 to sold-out houses. This opera was Puccini’s last and grandest, and the aria “Nessun dorma!” has become a staple of pop culture in the voices of the Three Tenors.

Soprano Kara Shay Thomson, who made her Sarasota Opera debut in the title role of Puccini’s Tosca in 2009, will sing the role of the icy princess.

This production is generously sponsored by Bud and Betty Shapiro in honor of the 60th Anniversary Season

 

The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage

February 16, 19, 21, 24, 27,
March 1, 16, 21, 23, 2019

A Sarasota Opera production

Last seen at Sarasota Opera in 2010, The Magic Flute is perhaps Mozart’s most popular opera. Soprano, Alexandra Batsios (The Golden Cockerel, The Barber of Seville) will return to Sarasota to play the evil Queen of the Night.

Sarasota Youth Opera Music Director Jesse Martins will make his main stage conducting debut and Mark Freiman (Norma, Italian Girl in Algiers) will return to direct.

Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi

Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage

March 2, 5, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 24, 2019
A Sarasota Opera production

Verdi’s third opera and the one to help establish Verdi’s success as an opera composer, contains some of the master’s most exciting music, including his most famous chorus “Va, pensiero.”

Maestro DeRenzi will conduct and Martha Collins (Carmen, Dialogues of the Carmelites) will return to direct.

A Comic Double Bill
Sarasota Opera will round out the 2019 Winter Opera Festival with the premieres of two rare one-act comedies that will make for a delightful, light evening.

Rita (Two Men and a Woman) by Gaetano Donizetti
Sung in French with English translations displayed above the stage
March 9, 12, 14, 17, 20, 23, 2019

Sarasota Opera Premiere

This entertaining one-act opera, set to a French libretto by Gustave Vaëz, premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris in 1860 having been found among Donizetti’s personal belongings after his death in 1848.

Susanna’s Secret by Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari
Sung in Italian with English translations displayed above the stage
March 9, 12, 14, 17, 20, 23, 2019


Beyond Verdi Series/Sarasota Opera Premiere Continuing the “Beyond Verdi” series Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret will follow after intermission.

Marcello Cormio (Cosi fan tutte, The Marriage of Figaro) returns to conduct. JJ Hudson will make his Sarasota Opera debut as stage director.

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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