LIBRETTO
THOUGHTS ON VERDI’S STIFFELIO
The Challenge of Forgiveness
BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER & JOURNALIST
The final work in Sarasota Opera’s 2025 Winter Opera Festival is Giuseppe Verdi’s highly dramatic tale of betrayal and forgiveness, Stiffelio Verdi’s sixteenth opera premiered in Trieste in late 1850, just a few months before Rigoletto would premiere in Venice. In fact, work on the two operas sometimes overlapped. Interestingly enough, both feature important father figures, though they represent radically opposite ideas of paternal love—in Rigoletto, the title character sacrifices everything to defend his daughter, while in Stiffelio, the father figure is unforgiving, even cruel.
But the crisis at the heart of Stiffelio lies elsewhere, in the struggle experienced by its eponymous protagonist. It is the struggle between his belief, as a man of God, in the power of forgiveness, and the anger he feels as a husband who suffers betrayal at the hands of his wife.
It is this very theme that led to the opera’s difficult reception by the censors in 19thcentury Italy, a deeply Catholic country. The story was set, not in the distant past, but in the present day, somewhere in Austria. The protagonist was a Protestant minister, and the depiction of a priest suffering pangs of jealousy and desiring revenge was viewed as unseemly, as was the staging of an onstage “confession.” (The story was drawn from a French novel, Le Pasteur d’hommes, by Émile Souvestre, and a subsequent play, also by Souvestre.) The censors required changes; Verdi balked and ultimately
decided to withdraw the opera from future performances. In 1857, he created an alternate version, Aroldo, set in the 13th century. (Aroldo was staged in Sarasota in 1990 as part of the Verdi Cycle.)
Because of this, Stiffelio has experienced lengthy lacunae in its performance history. In the years after Verdi withdrew the opera, the full score of the original was essentially lost. It wasn’t until the 1960s that a somewhat complete copy was found in an archive in Naples. This led to a first revival. Then, in 1992, a full autograph score was located amongst Verdi’s papers at the Villa Verdi, near Piacenza. It was only then that a full and accurate version of the opera could be brought to the stage. Sarasota Opera, who performed Stiffelio in 2005, was one of the companies that took part in a worldwide revival of this essential work from Verdi’s mature period. Now it is back for a second look.
Libretto spoke with Maestro Victor DeRenzi about aspects of the opera.
What is the moral dilemma at the heart of Stiffelio?
Stiffelio is about a preacher who says one thing, but then feels something completely different in his heart. It’s that disconnect between his intellect and what he really feels, and how he behaves. He knows that sins should be forgiven, but if the sin is committed against him, then it’s a different matter. He finds it hard to forgive. This is very much a part of the human character.
Stiffelio is about a preacher who says one thing, but then feels something completely different in his heart.
~ VICTOR DERENZI
The story hinges on Stiffelio’s betrayal by his wife, Lina. But then it’s not clear whether she really meant to betray him. It is unclear in the opera, perhaps intentionally so. Because what mattered to Verdi was that she reveals the truth as a kind of confession, under the guidance of God. What matters in almost all of his operas is less what created the situation than how the characters react to that situation.
Do you think Stiffelio foreshadows Rigoletto at all?
I think that, as in Rigoletto, you see Verdi beginning to break down conventional musical forms. He trusted that the audience would understand that drama was moving in a different direction. You didn’t need to have the tenor walk to the footlights and sing an aria, for example. In that sense, it was very forward-looking. What is a particularly musically interesting moment that the audience should look out for?
At the beginning of the second act, there is a scene in a cemetery, and the soprano, Lina, has a typical big aria of the period, with a slow section followed by a fast section. The slow section has one of the
most incredible orchestrations—just solo strings. The soprano sings a beautiful melody over it, “Ah dagli scanni eterei,” asking for her late mother’s intercession. It’s something Verdi didn’t do before and never really did again in terms of orchestration.
What new discoveries have you made, now that you are doing Stiffelio for the second time?
Coming back to it after conducting all of Verdi has made it even more clear how Verdi was willing to use the simplest means, and that he knew how to grasp an audience’s attention. Whether it is through the words or by a sudden shift in harmony, he understood what would create a dramatic effect. He called it the
“parola scenica” (or the “scenic word”)— the way a word could jump off the page and grab you. For example, towards the end of the opera the soprano cries out, “Ministro, confessatemi” (Minister, hear my confession!), everything stops. The words grab your attention.
Verdi really knew his audience… Yes! One of the great things that makes Verdi’s works meaningful almost two centuries after they were written is that he always thought about what it was like to be in the audience. He learned a lot as a student in Milan going to performances and watching the audience’s reaction, not just as a musician, but as a man of the theater. He never forgot that.
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GENERAL
On the Road with the Sarasota Opera Costume Studio
BY RICHARD RUSSELL
During the Winter Opera Festival, Sarasota Opera uses hundreds of costumes to clothe our nearly seventy principal, studio, apprentice, and youth opera singers and supernumeraries. This takes an enormous effort by our costume shop staff and the two full-time employees working on our Sarasota Opera Costume studio.
This year our costumes have not only made the journey from north of University Parkway to the opera house, others have also traveled to Tampa, Savannah, Tulsa, New York, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, Norfolk, and Calgary. As our rental business grows, our costumes are seen in professional opera productions, university programs, theater companies, and on film and television.
Here are a few interesting places that we’ve followed these clothes over the last year.
If you enjoy a quirky detective drama, you may have seen the CBS series Elsbeth Starring Carrie Preston as the eponymous character, the show follows the trail of a lawyer turned amateur detective. In episode 1 of the 2nd season (which aired this past October) Elsbeth was tracking down an opera-lover (played by Nathan Lane) who murders an annoying seat mate (please don’t try this is Sarasota). The episode features sequences from The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, Madama Butterfly,
and Rigoletto and the costumes were from the Sarasota Opera Costume Studio.
Lisa Marie Rogali, our Rosina in The Barber of Seville, looked wonderful in her costumes designed by Howard Tsvi Kaplan. Earlier this year, she played another heroine from Seville, Carmen at Virginia Opera, where she also wore costumes from our collection. This production (one of the most popular in our collection) had to make a quick turnaround since when they came back to us, they were packed and shipped to head up to Milwaukee for Florentine Opera’s production of Bizet’s opera. And as I write this, we just had an inquiry from San Diego Opera, who would like to use them as well for their upcoming staging.
Before coming to us for our double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci, Sarasota favorite Rafael Dávila sang Turiddu in Cavalleria at Pittsburgh Opera. While he didn’t wear the same costumes he is wearing at Sarasota Opera, he was wearing clothes from a different production in our costume collection, designed by Edward Kotanen. Also in that production was Ricardo José Rivera who sang Silvio (Stankar in our Stiffelio) and Jonathan Burton, who was Calaf in Turandot (2013 and 2019) and Radames in Aida (2016) for Sarasota Opera, was Canio.
Our resident costume designer has been using costumes from our Costume Studio,
to create productions for number of other companies. For Opera Tampa, he created costumes for Leonard Bernstein’s Candide, as well as an Ybor City based version of Don Pasquale. In May Opera Delaware will see the world premiere of a new opera by composer Derrick Wang. Fearless is the story of World War II pilot Hazel Ying Lee, a pioneering Chinese American aviator and member of the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots. Mr. Kaplan is using costumes from our collection to recreate the world of wartime U.S.
Our nun’s habits have also been popular this year, going to University of NebraskaLincoln and the Julliard School for productions of Poulenc’s The Dialogues of the Carmelites. And Berkeley Rep used our ecclesiastical costumes for a new rock musical Galileo
Created in 2019 with the purchase of the opera costume collection of Torontobased Malabar, Inc., the Sarasota Opera Costume Studio now encompasses over 50,000 costumes, 135 opera productions, and nearly 100,000 pieces. With the generous help of our community, Sarasota Opera purchased the Malabar collection to better control the company’s access and costs for its opera season, generate additional earned revenue, and to protect these historic costumes. Each year we build on an already extensive rental client list and expanding the reputation of Sarasota Opera.
Photo by David Bochman for Pittsburgh Opera.
Photo by Dave Pearson Photography for Virginia Opera.
BECOMING THE COUNTESS
Michelle Johnson on The Marriage of Figaro
BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER & JOURNALIST
Once you see Michelle Johnson perform, it’s impossible to forget her. Between her powerful, emotionally-pure voice and her commitment and regal presence on stage, she makes a strong and lasting impression. She also has great range. At Sarasota Opera alone, she has sung such contrasting roles as Elisabeth de Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlos (2015), Aida (2016), and Madame Lidoine in Poulenc’s Dialogues of the Carmelites (2017). This season, she returns as the Countess in Mozart’s comic—and simultaneously heart-breaking— Marriage of Figaro. The Countess is the beating heart of the opera, the quiet presence whose emotional depth infuses the surrounding comedy with deeper implications: the vulnerability of love, and the wisdom and understanding that come with maturity.
Recently, Michelle discussed her thoughts on the role of the Countess with Libretto:
Have you sung the role before?
Only once, in the early 2000s. It has been years. When I was younger, I felt that she was such a sad character, but now, as a married woman, I see so many different layers and complications that she’s going through, and different emotions. And also her strength—I found her strength.
The role is so different from the power-house characters you’ve been singing, like Turandot and Aida. What is that contrast like for you?
Mozart is incredibly beautiful and tender and so challenging. I’ve been full-throttle for so many years, and I adore that, but there is something about the simplicity of it and going back to the basics—giving your body and your mind a little bit of a break. Aligning the mind and the body, and literally giving your instrument some care.
The music has a kind of sublime simplicity to it, doesn’t it?
Agreed, agreed. It’s almost ethereal. I think that is also one of the challenging things, to just do less. You always want to do more—more is more—but sometimes less is just heartbreaking.
Do you find that you have to sing or present yourself differently somehow?
It’s going to be my voice—I sing her with my voice. I do have to remind myself, “Michelle, you’re not 21 years old.” The voice matures, and so I have to tap into my flexibility, and remember that she’s still a spirited young lady who just happens to have this status. Even my posture and the way I hold myself change as I am preparing for the Countess. I will say that the costumes and makeup definitely help. I also love the fact that it is an ensemble show. A lot of my singing is “dying and crying” with my tenor boo. I love the fact that I’m going to get to collaborate a little bit more on stage.
Do you have a favorite moment in the opera?
Well, of course, everybody’s going to say the garden scene at the end, when the Countess tells the Count that she forgives him. Everything just stops. I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
How do you feel about the Countess’s great aria, “Dove sono”? That’s where I think, “Okay, girl, get yourself together.” It’s the aria that everybody is looking forward to, and that has been sung by all the trailblazing divas with the long lines that go on forever and a day. I want to do it justice, and I want to do it my way, and also give the audience what they’re expecting.
Do you get emotional when you sing it?
Oh, gosh, yes, absolutely. Even more now that I’ve lived. It’s not just a pretty tune. It’s way deeper than that. I do find myself getting emotional, and I think to myself, “This is the time to let it out.” I mean, that’s the whole point of live theater—so we can feel things.
How did you start singing?
My dad was a pastor at a Baptist Church in Houston, and I started singing in the choir in church. When I was about eight years old, I saw my first opera on PBS. It
I get goosebumps just thinking about it.
was Madama Butterfly. I’m a big supporter of public television — I learned so much from it. Then, in his office, my father had a VHS tape of The Sound of Music. After I saw that, I asked him if I could take voice lessons. In junior high, I started doing a lot of theater, and I also played sports and kind of did everything, as well as music. Music was just sort of there. Then, my senior year of high school, I thought, “Okay, I guess I’ll just go into education,” because my family are all educators and I always loved teaching. But my voice teacher said, “I think you should audition for a conservatory or some sort of music program, just to see.” I applied to a few, in Texas and on the East Coast. When I went to New England Conservatory for my audition and was accepted with a scholarship, I thought, “Oh my goodness.” Something just clicked at that moment. I thought, “I think these are my people, I think this is it.” I’ve been on this road since then.
Both you and your husband, Brian Major, are opera singers, and you have a nine-year-old daughter, Liza. How do you manage your schedules? Liza was home-schooled up until the second grade, but then, after Brian started getting more consistent work at the Metropolitan Opera, she started going to a brick-and-mortar school. When he’s there, he commutes back and forth from New York to Philadelphia, where we live. So now we look more carefully at our performance schedules, and we’re a bit choosier. We take our time to decide what we really
THE SECRET TO SINGING VERDI WELL
According to baritone Ricardo José Rivera it’s: Don’t shout!
BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER & JOURNALIST
The baritone Ricardo José Rivera is rapidly becoming familiar to Sarasota audiences after exciting performances in Verdi’s Ernani (2023) and Luisa Miller (2024). This year, he returns as Stankar, a hard- hearted and domineering character who drives the action in Verdi’s 1850 opera Stiffelio. As a baritone, he is no stranger to such ominous roles, so at odds with his genial, friendly personality offstage. Nor is there anything harsh about his singing. After a recent début in the rediscovered bel canto opera Anna di Resburgo, Rivera’s performance was reviewed as “mighty yet warm” by The New York Times, while The New Yorker admired his “resonant chest voice” and “brilliant high notes.” Though particularly impressive in dramatic roles like these, he’s no stranger to comedy. In fact, when Libretto caught up with him recently, he was in the middle of rehearsals for Gaetano Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in Miami.
How did you get into music?
I started when I was about eight or nine, which is when I began singing in my school choir. Then, when I was about 11 or 12, I also became interested in piano and started studying both. After enrolling at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, where they have a children’s choir, I transferred to that choir and continued taking piano lessons.
Do you come from a musical family?
My dad is an amateur musician. He plays the cuatro, which is a traditional Puerto Rican instrument, like a guitar but with 10 strings instead of six. It has a very particular sound—very sweet and light. And he sings as well.
Is your wife a singer also?
Yes, she’s a soprano. We actually met in Puerto Rico at the music conservatory in San Juan, where we were both students.
There seem to be so many fine Puerto Rican opera singers, including Rafael Dávila, who has sung frequently in Sarasota (including this season). Why do you think that is? Is it something about the culture, the language, the connection to music?
I would say it’s a combination of genetic talent—there is a lot of raw talent in Puerto Rico—and the instruction at the Conservatorio de Música de Puerto Rico, which is really good. The conservatory has excellent professors, not only for voice but for every instrument. One of the most important things was the musical preparation I received there, which has been crucial in my development as a singer. You need to be a good musician to do this job well.
When was your professional début?
After studying at the conservatory in Puerto Rico, I went to Rice University to study voice, and then I joined the Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago for three years as part of the ensemble. While I was there, I performed a couple of nice supporting roles, including Schaunard in La bohème. I also sang Sharpless in Madama Butterfly. I was originally covering the role; but when the baritone singing Sharpless had to cancel after the first act, they had me go on. That was in 2020, just before the pandemic.
This is your third time in Sarasota, after Ernani and Luisa Miller. This time you’re singing the role of Stankar in Stiffelio (1850), the opera Verdi composed just after Luisa Miller and before Rigoletto. Did you know Stiffelio before learning it now? Actually, I didn’t know it at all until I got the offer. That’s when I started to get curious. I got a copy of the score and began studying it. It’s a very, very intense opera from start to finish.
It’s a demanding role, musically and vocally.
And how about the role you’ll be singing, Stankar? He’s the father of the female protagonist, Lina, and he’s quite a forbidding character. It’s a demanding role, musically and vocally. It requires a lot of what we call vocal stamina. It sits on a tessitura [vocal range] that is not particularly comfortable for most baritones, which is typical of Verdi. Mostly, it sits in what we call the passaggio [the transition between vocal registers]. It’s something that you have to train yourself for. You have a big number in every act, and you have to be very connected dramatically. So it’s a nice role—I like challenges. You’re only 33, but as a baritone, you’re often called upon to sing older men, including many fathers. How do you access that kind of world-weariness and gravitas these roles require? I try to study older gentlemen, like my own father, who is in his 70s. I often think about him when I’m trying to access a particular physicality in these roles. And other older gentlemen, either in my life or just randomly—maybe a picture online or someone in the street. I see how they speak, how they handle themselves, and sometimes a gesture or a particular physicality that they have catches my eye. Looking at paintings from the period of the opera also helps.
Who are your vocal heroes?
Well, Ettore Bastianini is a hero to all baritones. And there are others. I love Titta Ruffo, of course, and a couple of lesserknown names like Giangiacomo Guelfi
LEAVING A LEGACY
David Chivas & Ronald Rice
Lifelong partners, Ron and David happened to have been born in the same Detroit hospital but five years apart. Ron spent his professional career at General Motors as a Material Expediter for the Jimmy Vehicle Program while David was a funeral director at the Ford Funeral Home, owning that business for 22 years.
David started violin lessons in second grade, and in high school switched to viola. After establishing his profession, he was principal violist with the Mt. Clemens Symphony for many years. This piqued his interest in classical music, which in turn led to Ron’s appreciation of the arts. Together they discovered many other art forms such as opera, ballet and drama in the Detroit area. David is still actively involved in a number of musical groups including the Sarasota Opera Guild, the Venice Symphony and others, even undertaking harp lessons.
Ron was introduced to opera performances on the east coast of Florida by friends from Naples. The group of friends then went to Sarasota to hear a performance of Verdi’s Requiem and Ron found it to be such a wonderful experience that he told David that they had to subscribe to the Sarasota Opera.
At Your Service!
They soon bought the weekend series where they could both hear all the operas in a few days since David was still working in Michigan. David, a seasoned patron of Detroit’s Michigan Opera Theatre, began attending without high expectations of what a smaller town like Sarasota would produce. But they were both very impressed and have subsequently supported our opera for over 20 years!
David and Ron met in November of 1968 and after a 47-year engagement, married on Valentine’s Day in 2015. They both enjoy hands on involvement with all the wonderful organizations that they are involved with in Sarasota.
Ron and David understand the financial struggle all the arts organizations face. They especially want to see the opera thrive for many years so that future generations can enjoy performances as they have. They have therefore made an estate provision and are new members of the Sarasota Opera’s Kretzmer Legacy Society! Welcome Ron and David!
The Development Staff is here to answer questions about giving levels and benefits and take reservations to our Signature Events.
Our office’s main number is (941) 366-8450. Positions, extensions and emails for each member of the staff are listed below. Feel free to reach out to any of us. And thank you for your support of Sarasota Opera!
PATRON TIER DONORS ($50 to $5,999) to all areas, including STAR and Youth Opera
Brenda Tamm Ext. 250 btamm@sarasotaopera.org
Davis Wolfe Ext. 231 dwolfe@sarasotaopera.org
Volunteers Ron Rice and David Chivas leave a legacy for Sarasota Opera!
LEADERSHIP TIER DONORS ($5,000+) to all areas, including Co-Producer, Youth Opera and Artistic Achievement Fund
Melissa Voigt Ext. 581 mvoigt@sarasotaopera.org
Karen Misantone Ext. 416 kmisantone@sarasotaopera.org
PLANNED GIVING AND KRETZMER LEGACY SOCIETY
Stacy Ridenour Ext. 246 sridenour@sarasotaopera.org
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want to do in order to give Liza as much stability as possible. But to be honest, she’s a theater baby, she gets it. A nine-year-old should not be able to pack a bag as fast as she can.
Is she a performer too?
Yes, she has found solace in dance and piano, and she did her first musical theater show recently. She’s in ballet—we just got finished with the Nutcracker season. She was one of the girls in the party scene.
This is your fourth time in Sarasota—what has your experience been like?
I have always enjoyed my time in Sarasota. It really is something special that America needs more of. I find it to be so respectful of our craft. You really get the time to perfect your craft, and the standards are so high. Also, I enjoy the people—it always feels like a family reunion when I’m down there.
Do you have any performance rituals?
When I was younger, in my 20s, I did all the things: the tea and the quiet and the no talking. But since being a wife and mother, girl, I just do it. I will say the one thing that I really, truly love is to be the first one in the hair and makeup chair. That gives me time to feel and get my mind together. I like to be peaceful. I already have my costume on. I like to sit and become the character in a way. I look at myself in the mirror and start to lose Michelle slightly, and go into the realm of wherever I am in the opera.
RICARDO JOSÉ RIVERA
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or Gianni Maffeo, whom I really admire. I like singers from that era [mid20th century], and it’s very rare that later singers catch my ear.
What do you think it takes to sing Verdi well?
Not shouting! A lot of people think that singing Verdi has to be very loud and big, but while it has to be dramatic, it should not, in my opinion, stray from the traditions of bel canto, because most of his operas were written for singers trained in that technique. It is dramatic, but always in the context of the phrase, of the line. Except maybe in some of his later operas, like Otello or Falstaff, which are more romantic in style. But in general, especially Luisa Miller, Stiffelio, and even Ernani for the most part, it’s all in that bel canto tradition. To sing Verdi well, you have to honor that tradition.
You’re currently singing Belcore in L’elisir d’amore and you recently sang Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, two wonderfully comic roles, but as we’ve discussed, you sing a lot of dramatic roles. Do you have a preference for comedy or drama?
I like both, but I think if I had to choose, I’d say I prefer the dramatic ones just a little bit. Usually, comedic roles don’t have those beautiful lines that you get in Verdi or in, say, I puritani by Vincenzo Bellini. In these operas, you get great, long phrases in which you can express a lot. Papageno is a fantastic role, and people love it. But vocally, it’s not as interesting for me.
You and your wife have twin two-year-old boys. What is it like to have a young family while also maintaining an active singing career?
They will be with me in Sarasota—this is one of the few instances when I get to take them with me. In 2024, I spent probably eight months away from them. I started the year in Sarasota, then went to San Jose for Florencia en el Amazonas. Then I had a little break, and after that, I went to New York. It’s hard to be far from my family. FaceTime is a huge tool these days. Whenever I’m not in rehearsal and I’m alone, I try to FaceTime my wife, see the kids, and talk with them.
Mini Events are intimate events held by members of the community in private homes and special locations, with themes and activities to engage the community –connecting new and old friends. All proceeds support Sarasota Opera. Check out the variety of Mini Events being planned and updated throughout the year at www.sarasotaopera.org/minievent.
RESERVE TODAY
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