The season will conclude in May with the world premiere of a new opera by Ned Rorem and J.D. McClatchy based on Winsor McCay's comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland. This work has been commissioned by Sarasota Opera and will be performed by the Sarasota Youth Opera.
2008-2009 will mark the fiftieth season for the company which formed in 1960 to present a touring company in the Historic Asolo Theatre on the grounds of the Ringling Museum in Sarasota. In 1972 they began mounting their own productions and in 1984 the company moved to the former A.B. Edwards Theatre, which was renamed the Sarasota Opera House. The Opera House underwent a $20 million restoration and renovation during 2007-08 and reopened in March 1, 2008.
The November 2008 production of the Rossini favorite will mark the first time that the company has mounted a fully-staged opera in the fall. The Barber of Seville will open on November 7, 2008, with additional performances on Nov. 9 (mat.), 12, 14 and 16 (mat.). The opera will be presented in a new production built especially for Sarasota Opera and conducted by its Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi.
The 2009 Winter Opera Festival returns to its normal two-month schedule opening on February 7 with Sarasota Opera's acclaimed production of Puccini's Tosca. The festival will run through March 29, 2009. The company last presented this opera in the 2004 season which will again be directed by Stephanie Sundine, with sets by David P. Gordon, costumes by Howard Tsvi Kaplan and conducted by Victor DeRenzi. Additional performances will take place on February 10, 15 (mat.), 18, 22, March 6, 12, 14 (mat.), 18, 20, 26, and 29 (mat.).
The season will continue with a new production of Donizetti's The Elixir of Love. This popular opera has been absent from the Sarasota Opera stage since 1986. The performances of The Elixir of Love will take place on February 14, 17, 19, 22 (mat.), 25, March 8, 13, 21 (mat.), 24, and 27.
The Sarasota Opera Masterworks Revival series returns on February 21, 2009, when the company mounts a new production of Mascagni's L'amico Fritz. After his initial success with the torrid Cavalleria rusticana, the pastoral beauty of this, his second work, provided a dramatic change of pace. The opera received frequent performances in Italy during the composer's lifetime, but has been rarely heard in the United States. Additional performances of L'amico Fritz will take place on February 24, 26, March 1 (mat.), 8 (mat.), 11, 14, and 21.
Sarasota Opera continues its critically acclaimed Verdi Cycle with a new production of the composer's epic Don Carlos. Don Carlos will be presented in the four act revised version and sung in French as Verdi composed it. The original five-act Paris version will be performed in a later season. Acclaimed Verdi specialist Victor DeRenzi will conduct, as he has all of the other Verdi operas in the cycle. Performances of Don Carlos will take place on March 7, 10, 15 (mat.), 19, 22 (mat.), 25, and 28.
On May 8 and 9, 2009, the Sarasota Youth Opera will present the world premiere of a new opera that has been commissioned by Sarasota Opera for the program. Little Nemo in Slumberland is being composed by Pulitzer Prize winning composer Ned Rorem to a libretto by poet and librettist J.D. McClatchy. The opera is based on Winsor McCay's comic strip of the same name, which ran in New York newspapers 1905 through 1913. The new opera is part of a continuing series of commission by Sarasota Opera to expand the repertoire of operas appropriate for young voices. The Sarasota Youth Opera is a unique year-round program which involves young people from 8 to 18 in the production and performance of operatic works.
Artists from the 2008 season who will return in 2008-09 include baritone Marco Nistico, bass Young-Bok Kim, tenor Rafael Davila, bass Stephen Eisenhard, tenor Benjamin Warschawski, baritone Michael Corvino, bass Jeffrey Tucker, and stage director Stephanie Sundine. Also returning from earlier seasons will be soprano Julianna DiGiacomo and bass Kevin Short. Complete casting will be announced at a later date. -- www.sarasotaopera.org
