LIBRETTO WINTER 2025 | ISSUE 160
STATE OF THE SARASOTA OPERA
A Somewhat Busy Summer BY RICHARD RUSSELL, GENERAL DIRECTOR
W
hen I first took the job of Director of Marketing at Sarasota Opera in 2005, I explained to my father that apart from some concerts in the fall, most of what we produced was a winter opera festival in February and March. He then asked me “what do you do the rest of the year”, assuming that I didn’t have much to do the other eight months of the year. Even today, people I talk to in May often say “now that things are quiet…”. I can assure you things are never quiet at Sarasota Opera. This year was especially full of activity, apart from our usual theater rentals (with performances by the Sarasota Orchestra, Sarasota Ballet, and numerous others). As many know, we had planned to replace the air conditioning system in the Deane Carroll Allyn Pavilion this summer. That job got complicated when the system broke down in May and the equipment, which was on order, was en route from Mexico for a planned July installation.
This required some quick thinking and rearrangement. The very warm Pavilion meant that our box office moved into the small box office in the theater, our education department relocated to second floor of the Artists Wing, and other staff either found temporary quarters or set up to work remotely (something we’ve become very adept since COVID). This also meant that we had to plan to move our Youth Opera Summer Camp, which usually utilizes several rooms in the Pavilion, to locations in the Opera House and Artists Wing, including the stage (which had to be vacated any time we had rented the theater to another group). With great ingenuity, our Youth Opera team of Martha Collins, Jessé Martins, and Cameron Maxwell, along with the many guest artists and teachers managed to provide an enriching experience to the 70 young people who took part in the three-week camp.
The equipment arrived in July after camp wound down and installation began. It required demolition and removal of the old air conditioning system on the roof, with the replacement of new compressors, chillers, and piping to follow. It was a painstaking process and while we hoped to have things up and running in a few weeks, the work was delayed by frequent afternoon rain, and issues with subcontractors that meant that the air wasn’t finally on until the end of August. Our staff was finally able to move back into their offices and activities returned to normal.
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