Sarasota Opera’s 2018 winter season will feature productions
of three previously unproduced works plus one Maestro Victor
DeRenzi says is a can’t-miss chestnut that is sure to please.
“Two of the three we’ve never done before — Norma and
Manon Lescaut — have been requested quite often,” said
DeRenzi, who serves as Sarasota Opera’s director and principal
conductor. “They’re very popular operas, done all over the
world, and we should have done them by now. The other
opera, Tiefland, we chose because it’s not done often. We have
a large number of people that come to Sarasota to see operas
they can’t see anyplace else.”
Carmen, which Sarasota Opera last produced in 2012, rounds
out the season and will employ the same sets and stage director
as last time, he added. It will, however, have a brand new cast
and a new conductor.
“There are operas that people want to see often,” DeRenzi
said. “And there are operas that are very good for people to see
58 SARASOTA SCENE | FEBRUARY 2018
Eugen d’Albert’s Tiefland
who are new opera lovers. These never wear thin and should
be a standard part of any opera company’s repertoire. Carmen
is such an opera. You can do it every six years or so and
audiences will enthusiastically welcome it back.”
DeRenzi added the process of choosing operas is an exacting
one. A middle ground is often sought between works a
seasoned operagoer would want to see and those that might
be interesting to newer audiences. Another deciding factor lies
in considering the variety of composers and their countries
of origin. This year, for example, there is one French opera
(Carmen), two Italian (Manon Lescault and Norma) and one
German (Tiefland).
“There’s also the technical aspect, that audiences are never
aware of,” DeRenzi said. “This consists of the kinds of sets each
opera has, how those sets fit together on our stage, how much
the chorus sings in each opera, what kind of singers I need.
When you’re doing four different operas in a weekend, as we’re
doing in March, that aspect becomes very important.”