Fall 2023 Sarasota Opera Libretto

LIBRETTO FALL 2023 ISSUE 157

BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER AND JOURNALIST

Shopping Our Closet: How Sarasota Opera’s Costume Studio Serves the Company, and the Art of Opera at Large organized, composed of felt, canvas, satin, crinolines, lace and ruffles. This is the Sarasota Opera Costume Studio: 20,000 square feet, containing roughly 350,000 individual pieces.

On row after row of racks—three tiers of them, stacked one above the other—are sorted the costumes for over 130 operas, everything from Boris Godunov to The Golden Cockerel to La bohème, Don Giovanni, and La traviata. Some, like the kimonos for Cio-Cio San in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, come with elaborate written instructions.

Raquel González in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly.

Photo by Rod Millington

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n an industrial area a couple of miles east of the Sarasota Bradenton airport sits a large warehouse with white siding.

A small sign on the door reads “Sarasota Opera Costume Studio.” Don’t let the nondescript exterior fool you, however. This windowless structure contains a colorful world, tightly-packed and efficiently

Often, the racks contain more than one set of costumes for a single opera. There are two Barber of Sevilles, two Gianni Schicchis, three Rigolettos. In the Traviata area, there is a set of clothes styled in the 1850’s manner, with crinoline dresses (think Queen Victoria), and another fitted with bustles, a style more typical of the 1870’s.

Yet another reflects the look associated with the turn of the twentieth century, with Art Nouveau touches. And there is a fourth, a stylish, all-gray-and-white wardrobe designed by the French opera director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle for his 1979 production for Houston Grand Opera.

Why so many? Sarasota Opera has been accumulating costumes for decades, for its own use and for its rental business, which rents out costumes to opera and theater companies, and to TV and film productions.

For two decades Sarasota Opera’s Resident Costume Designer Howard Tsvi Kaplan created many of the beautiful, periodspecific attire worn by the characters who appear in Sarasota’s productions.

Additional costumes were rented from the Malabar Costume shop, based in Toronto and owned and directed by the master tailor Luigi Speca. Malabar, which opened in 1900, was, until 2019, the largest purveyor of opera costumes in North America. But in 2019, when Speca decided to retire from the business, the shop sold its entire opera stock, about 100 productions, to Sarasota Opera. Seven trucks, loaded with 1,000 boxes each, made their way down from Toronto to the opera’s warehouse just off of Route 301. Last year, when Malabar shut down for good, Speca donated even more items, many of them with a more contemporary look.

Continued on page 2

INSIDE 2 4

Costume Studio A Life with Puccini—Maestro DeRenzi on the enduring appeal of his music 6 Introducing Jean Carlos Rodriguez 7 Guilds 9 Planned Giving 10 Valet Parking Reminder 11 Tribute Gifts

COSTUME STUDIO How Sarasota Opera’s Costume Studio Serves the Company, and the Art of Opera at Large Continued from page 1

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Colorado, Pittsburgh Opera, Calgary Opera, and Opera San Jose.

ince 2021, the warehouse has been presided over by the company’s Costume Administrator, John Tully. A former actor who also studied costume design, Tully emanates enthusiasm and knowledge. He watches over the costumes, which are arranged by opera, and further subdivided by production. Within the area assigned to a production, each character’s wardrobe is organized into a “track,” containing all of that character’s costumes, as well as the measurements of the singer for whom the costumes were made. The original singer’s name is sewn into the garments, creating an informal historical record of the artists who have appeared in Sarasota’s productions. (The costumes are designed to be adaptable to many body types, expanded or reduced depending on who is wearing them.) Howard and John keep a “bible” for each opera, a set of binders containing costume sketches, swatches of fabric, measurements, photos of the singers in costume. Each time a production is rented out, the package goes off with a detailed inventory so that all the dresses, crinolines, hats, and gloves can be accounted for upon their return.

There are also garments that don’t belong to any specific opera production. Need a Napoleonic soldier costume? Check. A priest’s vestments?

Check. A bowler, a fedora, or a fur hat fit for a Boyar? Check. A Santa costume? There are at least two dozen. Or maybe one of the hundreds (thousands?) of white shirts that line two rows, ranging from everyday button-downs to puffy shirts with ruffles— pace Jerry Seinfeld—that an Elizabethan poet might wear? The shirts were just recently arranged by period by the late 2

But the costumes are also available to others besides opera companies.

The Marilyn Horne Museum in Pennsylvania has a rotating exhibit of Sarasota Opera’s costumes on show, most recently, from Tancredi, Turandot, and The Golden Cockerel.

Shakespeare troupes and festivals are an obvious market. Here in Sarasota, the Asolo Repertory Theatre has used some costumes in its productions. Recently, the HBO period series Our Flag Means Death, about the adventures of an 18th century British pirate, requested a few pieces. And the car maker Kia used several dozen costumes from the 18th-century collection in an ad that featured a writer who goes for a drive as a remedy for writer’s block, and spots various historic characters along her path. (If you type “Kia Writer” into Google, it comes up.)

Lisa Chavez in Massenet’s Thérèse.

Photo by Rod Millington

Barney FitzGerald, Howard’s longtime and much-loved assistant and head of crafts, who passed away earlier this year.

It’s no surprise then that many opera companies around the country turn to Sarasota Opera’s collection to dress their upcoming productions. Recent clients include Florida Grand Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Carolina, Opera

All this is possible because of Howard and John’s intimate knowledge of the collection, and Howard’s deep institutional memory. “I always say to people,” he recently said, “if you need your Mimi to be in pink, I’ve got pink Mimis. I’ve got purple Mimis. We can work with any designer or director’s concept.”

Howard can remember a specific costume, particularly if he created it, and figure out if it could be used in a different context. This year, for example, he made two gorgeous lilac-colored dresses for the main character in Jules Massenet’s Thérèse.

In the future they might be worn by a singer performing Charlotte in Massenet’s Werther, by one of the sisters in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, or by the lead character in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut.

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

COSTUME STUDIO

BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER AND JOURNALIST

“ I always say to people,

if you need your Mimi to be in pink, I’ve got pink Mimis. I’ve got purple Mimis. We can work with any designer or director’s concept.

”

– Howard Tsvi Kaplan, Sarasota Opera’s Resident Costume Designer costumes together, and then John packs everything into boxes and sends them off, via UPS, Fedex, DHL, or whatever other means the companies prefer. A production of Carmen, for example, requires about fifty boxes. A lead time of five weeks is ideal, but emergency orders are not unheard of. “I’ve had an order come in on a Monday and go out by Wednesday,” John explained recently. “We help companies surmount obstacles.”

Costumes racked in the Sarasota Opera Costume Warehouse.

The one thing they don’t do is rent for parties. Don’t expect to wear Thérèse’s gorgeous lilac gown to your next Halloween party. (Alas.) “I don’t believe in food being anywhere near costumes,” says John.

Howard agrees: “No parties. Red wine stains really badly.”

To learn more about the Sarasota Opera Costume Studio rental business and a look inside the costume warehouse, visit SarasotaOpera.org/CostumeStudio.

Stephen Gaertner in Verdi’s Nabucco.

Photo by Rod Millington

In April of 2024, the Cleveland Playhouse will unveil a new production of Peter Shaffer’s play Amadeus. Howard will do the costumes, which will consist of a combination of new pieces and pieces stored in the warehouse. The fun thing is that the production will draw not only from the general 18th century holdings, but also from the wardrobes of Mozart’s operas, which Sarasota owns, some in multiple versions.

Howard and John are an efficient duo.

Howard receives the requests and does the paperwork, the two go through the

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

A child enjoys the costume display at the 2022 Family Day event. Photo by Cliff Roles

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PUCCINI: Q & A A Life with Puccini—Maestro DeRenzi on the Enduring Appeal of Puccini’s Music

BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER AND JOURNALIST

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aestro DeRenzi, and Sarasota Opera, have a long history with the music of Giacomo Puccini.

The first opera by Puccini DeRenzi conducted was Tosca in New York City back in 1969. His first Puccini opera at Sarasota Opera was Il tabarro, in 1987. Since then, the company has performed every Puccini opera, multiple times, with the exception of the composer’s two youthful works, Le villi and Edgar. (However, we’ll be hearing music from those two operas in this concert.) In fact, DeRenzi has conducted more than 300 performances of Puccini’s operas over the course of his long career. Like Verdi’s operas, Puccini’s music is essential to Sarasota Opera’s repertoire, as it is to the repertoire of almost every opera company around the world. In fact, it has become almost synonymous with opera itself.

Recently, DeRenzi reflected on why Puccini has become so ingrained in our idea of what an opera should be, as well as on his own trajectory through the music and dramatic imagination of the composer who brought us La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, Manon Lescaut, and other great works.

Marina Harss: Why did you decide it was the right time for a Puccini Concert, and how did you think about the pieces to include in the program?

Victor DeRenzi: It is never difficult choosing to perform Puccini since I love his music as much as our audience does. We’re coming to the 100th anniversary of Puccini’s death, next year, but we do not have a complete Puccini opera in our season. What I think is interesting about this program is that it’s an overview of his professional life. You’re going to hear music that Puccini wrote when he was a young man, as well as music from the score he was working on when he died. When you see an opera, you’re seeing the product of a particular period in that composer’s life. But this concert gives us a look at how his music progressed throughout his life.

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Giacomo Puccini

Marina: You’ve included music from Edgar and Le villi, Puccini’s first two operas, in the concert. Why are they never performed?

DeRenzi: I don’t think you can have a great opera unless you have a great libretto.

Some people think that Puccini was a slow composer because it took him more time to compose than the generation of Italian composers before him. But much of his work was spent finding the right story and making sure he was happy with the libretto. That’s what he learned from Edgar and Le villi, where the problems tend to lie with the drama of the work.

Marina: How did you first encounter Puccini’s music?

DeRenzi: I came to Puccini very early in my life, around the same time I discovered Verdi. Puccini’s operas were performed often in the mid 60s, when I first became interested in opera, not only at big companies like the Metropolitan Opera and New York City Opera, but also at the smaller companies that were plentiful in New York. I started singing chorus in a small company on Staten Island, where I grew up.

My first experience conducting was the backstage chorus of Tosca, as a teenager.

Marina: Do you remember when and why you fell in love with his music?

DeRenzi: I think when you truly love opera, you also come to love certain singers, and the repertoire of those singers influence which operas you listen to and learn about.

Having loved the voice of Renata Tebaldi meant that I was inclined to appreciate all the Verdi and Puccini and Italian romantic repertoire that she sang. I listened to her many Puccini recordings and saw her live in various Puccini roles.

Marina: Was there a particular Tebaldi performance that really marked you?

DeRenzi: The first time I heard her live was in a performance of Tosca in 1964, when I was fourteen. I had saved my money to buy a box seat. The tenor was supposed to be Barry Morell, who became sick, so it ended up being Franco Corelli along with Tito Gobbi as Scarpia. What made that performance so memorable for me was the way she expressed her humanity, and the humanity of the character, through her singing, as well as her gorgeous, beautiful, SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

2023 FALL SEASON Maestro DeRenzi on the Enduring Appeal of Puccini’s Music Continued from page 4 characters through the way he tells the story using great music. It’s very much about the individuals and how they react within their group and their society. I’ve always felt that if a person wants to be a playwright, one of the ways to study playwriting would be to study Puccini and how he created his operas. It’s not surprising that here we are after COVID, and the way people have brought audiences back to the theater is by performing Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and La bohème.

Maestro DeRenzi Photo by Giovanni Lunardi

voluptuous, full voice. Hearing that kind of voice as it filled the theater and enveloped you was something that isn’t heard often these days.

Marina: What did it illustrate for you about Puccini’s music?

DeRenzi: What I loved then, and still love about that opera and all of Puccini’s operas, is what a compelling dramatic composer he is. He brings you into the lives of the

Marina: Why do you think Puccini is probably the most beloved opera composer?

DeRenzi: First of all, he has dramatic cohesion in his music; he ties a piece together beautifully with a series of themes that are sometimes obvious and sometimes not. His storytelling has the pacing of a modern play. From the first notes you’re in a completely different world. He writes beautiful melodic themes, and audiences love melody. They want to hear something they can remember as they’re leaving the theater. There is a reason so many movies include Puccini’s music, like Room

with a View, Moonstruck, and Serpico. His music is very much part of the popular consciousness.

Marina: His operas are incredibly popular with the audience, but he hasn’t always gotten the respect he deserves from the musical community. Why is that?

DeRenzi: There were many musicologists and theoreticians who did not have a very positive view of Puccini. I used the word great above to describe his music, which I think it is. However, his music was never studied in conservatories. The people who decided what was to be studied in American universities were more inclined toward German music. Their system of theory was built around Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, as well as Schoenberg and Berg. There is no question as to their greatness and importance, but Puccini’s operas are also great and have survived because people took his music to heart and his operas were never out of the repertoire. I still think he’s not given enough credit. For instance, his orchestration should be studied in conservatories, because it is brilliant.

Continued on page 8

Mark Walters and Kara Shay Thomson in Puccini’s Tosca, Sarasota Opera, 2015 Photo by Rod Millington SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

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2023 FALL CONCERT: Q & A Introducing Jean Carlos Rodriguez, The Baritone Next Door

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he baritone Jean Carlos Rodriguez will be making his Sarasota Opera début in the 2023 Fall Season’s concert, The Music of Giacomo Puccini. But he doesn’t have to travel far; since 2014, he has been a resident of the Tampa Bay area. There, he has become a familiar face (and voice) at Opera Tampa, where he has performed everything from Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème to the Conte di Luna in Verdi’s Il trovatore and Gianni Schicchi in Puccini’s comic opera of the same name.

Despite his successes, his opera career hasn’t been a straight line. Opera was a late discovery (after baseball and other musical genres), and he has had experience in other kinds of work besides singing. But, as he discusses below, singing, and the music of Puccini and Verdi in particular, have held him in their thrall.

In a recent Zoom conversation, we discussed his background, what drives his love of opera, and the role he would most like to sing one day.

And the fall Puccini concert is only the beginning. In 2024, Rodriguez will return to Sarasota for the Winter Opera Festival to sing Enrico in Gaetano Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor.

Marina Harss: You were born in the Dominican Republic—was there a big culture shock after you moved to the States?

Jean Carlos Rodriguez: I was seven when we moved to New Jersey, and there was definitely a culture shock as I spoke zero English. I remember being put in the second grade into English-only courses without the help of English-language education. I would often express myself and communicate with people through pantomime.

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Marina: Do you think that experience helped you become a more expressive person, a skill that is definitely useful in opera?

Rodriguez: You know, I think I was born this way. My mom, my grandfather, we’re all expressive people. My whole family is extremely animated. Apparently when I was three years old, I would sing and perform for people by climbing on top of a table in our living room.

Marina: I understand your first passion was not opera at all, but baseball.

Rodriguez: It’s really common for a Dominican kid’s first passion to be baseball.

We have a cultural love for the sport. When you’re born, they hand you a baseball bat and hope for the best. And I was pretty good!

Marina: So how did you go from baseball to opera?

Rodriguez: When I was seventeen, my mom transferred me to an arts magnet school.

Students had to choose an art elective and I chose the only thing I knew I was okay at which was singing.

Marina: Was opera part of your world at the time?

Rodriguez: Not at all. In the Dominican Republic, it’s all bachata and merengue.

Opera was very foreign to me. In my first class, Marianna Vagnini, my teacher, asked me to sing something for her. I sang a nice Christian song I knew. And she said, “you have a very nice voice but I can barely hear you.” And I said “that’s what microphones are for!” She taught me how to project my voice, and after a while I was blowing her eardrums off. She said I should look into opera. And I said, opera?!

Marina: So how did you overcome that?

Rodriguez: Slowly but surely all the things that I was used to singing didn’t click the way they used to, because my voice didn’t fit the style anymore. One day my voice teacher said, “I have this wonderful piece for you,” and I started to sing it, and I just fell in love with it. She told me it was “O del mio amato ben,” a song by Stefano Donaudy [a late 19th century Italian composer]. I immediately fell in love with it, and it fit me like a glove.

And from that moment I didn’t look back.

Marina: You studied vocal performance in college, but then you moved to Florida and started a career at University of South Florida, as an admissions counselor.

How did you get back on the opera path from there?

Rodriguez: After I graduated with my bachelor’s degree in music, I had all these hopes and dreams. But things never play out the way that you expect them to. I ended up taking a job at USF and moving to Florida, and for three years I completely quit singing. I was good at my job, and was making decent money. But sure enough, I started missing opera. A lot. So, I auditioned for a local show, Opera on Tap. And then I started working with Robin Stamper, the director of Opera Tampa, privately. I SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

2023 FALL CONCERT

BY MARINA HARSS, WRITER AND JOURNALIST

started doing a few small things here and there. And finally in 2017 he offered me my first role, Paris in Charles Gounod’s Roméo and Juliet. And from there, this wonderful partnership with Opera Tampa started.

Marina: What brought you back?

Rodriguez: I missed performing, and I don’t mean the applause. What I missed was communicating with people. And I missed music as a whole. If the music weren’t beautiful, I wouldn’t be an opera singer.

The music puts me in a very peaceful state.

I also missed the work, the feeling in the rehearsal space, learning something on your own and going through all of the ups and downs that that you go through when you’re learning a role or an aria.

Marina: What do you think you’ve learned from your experience?

Rodriguez: One of the things I always tell younger singers is that you can have a great voice but you also have to be a great colleague. If people don’t want to be around you then you’re probably not going to get hired to sing again. You want to be a good colleague and make things as seamless as possible. Opera is hard enough.

Marina: Do you have favorite composers?

Rodriguez: I’m going to give you two: Puccini and Verdi. I can feel what they’re trying to say through their music. Those two composers affect me the most.

Marina: Since we’re speaking in advance of the Puccini concert this fall, can you tell me what it is about Puccini’s music you most connect to?

Rodriguez: Puccini’s operas truly feel like a story, or a book, with a start, a middle, and an end. The music and the drama just keep moving forward. The second thing is the way that Puccini uses rhythms and harmonies and melodies to tell his story.

It’s absolutely brilliant. The only time he repeats something is when he’s trying to bring you back to something that happened before, like in La bohème, at the end, when Mimì is dying. Puccini brings you back to “Che gelida manina” from act one, and you remember everything that happened when Mimì and Rodolfo first met.

I can play a role that is very different from my day-to-day character, let me do that.

Marina: Like Scarpia, in Tosca?

Rodriguez: Yes! My favorite role. My dream role. I can’t wait to sing it one day. And then you have “Questo amor,” which is extremely sensitive. The two arias are polar opposites. I’m excited to show the different ways Puccini wrote for the baritone voice.

“ Puccini didn’t write a lot of arias for baritones. So, the ones he did write are even more special. I’d never sung either of these before.

“Nulla! Silenzio!” is a powerhouse of an aria. It builds and builds, so you’re just waiting for that explosion at the end.

Marina: At the Puccini concert, you’ll be singing arias from two rarely performed Puccini operas, “Nulla! Silenzio!” from Il tabarro (one of the three operas that form Il trittico) and “Questo amor” from Edgar (Puccini’s second opera). What do you feel is special about each?

Marina: Is there anything else you’d like people to know about you?

Rodriguez: Puccini didn’t write a lot of arias for baritones. So, the ones he did write are even more special. I’d never sung either of these before. “Nulla! Silenzio!” is a powerhouse of an aria. It builds and builds, so you’re just waiting for that explosion at the end. And I love playing villains, because I’m very much not a villain in real life, so if

Rodriguez: I make the best burger you will ever taste. But more importantly, I will say that my family is the most important thing for me. Family comes first. My wife and I are having a baby boy soon. We just had the gender reveal. I’ve sung for many, many people, but I’ve never felt as excited and nervous as I did that day.

”

– Jean Carlos Rodriguez

Opera Guilds

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he Guilds of Sarasota Opera offer many opportunities to learn more about opera and to meet like-minded opera lovers. The Manatee Opera Guild and Sarasota Opera Guild both provide social activities paired with educational opportunities where Sarasota Opera staff and volunteers discuss the operas featured each season.

operating costs and the nationally acclaimed Sarasota Youth Opera. In addition, both Guilds provide financial awards to select artists and Sarasota Youth Opera.

Becoming a Guild member is a great way to support Sarasota Opera! Both Guilds provide significant support to general

Visit SarasotaOpera.org/opera-guilds to learn how you can join these vibrant communities!

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

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PUCCINI: Q & A Maestro DeRenzi on the Enduring Appeal of Puccini’s Music Continued from page 5 Marina Harss: Do you see a great evolution in his music from Le Villi, his first opera, to Turandot, his last?

DeRenzi: I see an evolution, but I don’t know if it’s a great evolution. His evolution happened very slowly and was very much connected to the atmosphere and dramatic needs of the work he was writing. The sounds of the Japanese-themed Madama Butterfly are of necessity different from his next opera La fanciulla del West, which has to express the emotions of the California gold rush. But moving on to La rondine Puccini had to turn toward another musical world. He knew a lot about his musical contemporaries and studied their works.

He went to performances by composers working in very different styles from his own, and that knowledge influenced him, but he was always true to the Italian idea that the voice and melody are primary.

Marina: Is there an opera that is closest to your heart?

DeRenzi: I think there is a youthfulness in Manon Lescaut that is totally uninhibited, and I love it for that reason. I also saw

Manon Lescaut very early on and fell in love with it in my teens. When you get into his middle operas, the way they’re constructed is so beautiful; that musical and dramatic form certainly speaks to me. I find that people who are a little bit apprehensive about La fanciulla del West unfailingly end up thinking it’s one of his best operas when they get to know it. Il tabarro shows us that the sadness of the character is really the sadness of the entire human condition. I guess you can figure out it is hard for me to choose one. I’m glad I don’t have to.

Marina: What is significant about this group of singers who will be performing in the Puccini concert?

DeRenzi: I was trying to bring together people who’ve been with us for a while, people who are completely new to us, and people who have just come to us recently.

We have the tenor Rafael Dávila, who’s been performing with Sarasota Opera for 20 years. The soprano Hannah Brammer, who started out as an Apprentice and Studio Artist and has done many various roles with us as a principal singer. Erica Petrocelli

Puccini’s Manon Lescaut, Sarasota Opera, 2018 Photo by Rod Millington 8

(soprano) and Christopher Oglesby (tenor) sang here for the first time last season.

And the baritone Jean-Carlos Rodriguez is debuting with us in this concert.

Marina: What makes a good Puccini singer?

DeRenzi: The ability to express the text.

There’s a story being told through the words. That’s why someone like Licia Albanese was such a great Puccini singer even though her voice may not be to everyone’s taste. Every time the emotion of the text changed she changed her voice.

You didn’t need to look at the words to understand what she was saying.

Marina: A final thought?

DeRenzi: I would have enjoyed spending time with Puccini as a person. I love Verdi, but he was a little austere. There was a sense of formality about him, probably because of his background and the time in which he lived. But not Puccini. In reading his letters I find him very approachable and a person who made friends easily.

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

PLANNED GIVING Tax Tips for Charitable Giving to Sarasota Opera

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his Libretto newsletter is a benefit exclusively for our donors so that you have inside knowledge about the opera company you support. We very much appreciate your loyalty and your love of opera.

Would you like to help ensure that generations to come can enjoy opera as you have? You can make this happen with a small provision or with something more significant, and there may be tax advantages!

proceeds undiminished by capital gains taxes. You pay a portion of the deferred capital gains taxes over time as you receive each trust payment. A CRUT is a significant method to leave a major gift to Sarasota Opera consisting almost entirely of federal capital gains taxes otherwise lost to the IRS!

2) Not sure what to do with your home or a condo when you pass? With very few exceptions, Sarasota Opera would be happy to receive such a gift which you can make by including this intention in your Will.

3) Would you like to sell an asset that has appreciated substantially (such as a rental property) and invest the proceeds or use the funds to cover other personal costs but are concerned about how to manage the capital gains taxes? A Charitable Remainder Unitrust (CRUT) may be your solution.

With a CRUT, you receive an annual percentage payment of the value of the trust, which is based on the entire sales

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

6) People of all ages and all walks of life put off getting their Wills in order. If you do not have a Will, it can be costly and cause unnecessary stress and strain for family and friends to sort out your estate and your wishes. A Will does not need to be complicated, but having one is the courteous thing to do.

QUESTIONS ABOUT LEGACY GIVING?

Did you know?…

1) Making the opera one of the beneficiaries of your IRA is a simple thing to do, taking less than 5 minutes! Heirs must pay income taxes on inherited IRAs, receiving much less of the value than the opera would.

BY STACY RIDENOUR, DONOR RELATIONS OFFICER

Contact Stacy Ridenour, Donor Relations Officer, 941-366-8450 ext. 246 or sridenour@sarasotaopera.org.

4) A federal law known as the SECURE Act encourages you to withdraw up to $50,000 income-tax free from your IRA if the funds are used to acquire a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA). A CGA pays you an annuity for life and the remainder passes to charity. You receive an income tax deduction when you buy the CGA. Some clever donors even use the annual annuity payment to fulfil some or all of their Sarasota Opera annual giving pledge (another income tax deduction)!

5) The estate tax exemption is scheduled to decrease in 2026 from $12.92M back to $5M (adjusted for inflation). It is definitely time to review your overall estate plan and make sure you are taking advantage of the historically high estate tax exemption.

Contact Stacy Ridenour at: sridenour@sarasotaopera.org or (941) 366-8450 ext. 246 for more information about planned giving or respond to one of our upcoming mailings or emails.

Sarasota Opera does not give tax advice and encourages you to speak with your tax advisor to discuss what is best for you and how to bring any of these ideas to fruition.

Thank you for reading this important information. We invite YOU to become part of the Kretzmer Legacy Society of the Sarasota Opera to ensure opera thrives!

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VALET PARKING UPDATE Do You Have Your Decal?

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t Sarasota Opera performances

are a donor who is not a subscriber, you

have not received your decal, please use

this Fall and Winter, free valet

should have received your decal along with

the information below to request yours:

parking will only be available to

your benefit information for the season.

donors who give at least $150 annually and

The decals should be placed in the lower

subscribers. To facilitate this, we have sent

part of your passenger side windshield.

window decals to those households who

They are non-stick, static cling decals that

receive this benefit. If you are a subscriber,

won’t leave a residue and are easy to remove

you should have received your decal with

after the season is over. They are only valid

your subscription tickets in the mail. If you

for Sarasota Opera performances. If you

Subscribers (donor and non-donor), contact the Box Office at (941) 328-1300.

Donors who are not subscribers, contact the Development Office at (941) 366-8450, ext. 813 or email development@sarasotaopera.org.

Sarasota Opera visits Italy An exclusive opportunity for Patrons of Sarasota Opera, hosted by Maestro Victor DeRenzi and General Director Richard Russell, and managed by Aria Tours President David Merritt.

Rome, Naples and Palermo April 8 (departure) - April 20 (return), 2024 (11 nights)

$17,995

(a portion will be a tax-deductible contribution to Sarasota Opera) Price does not include airfare to Europe but does include all in-country transfers

Featuring La sonnambula and a concert at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, La gioconda with Jonas Kaufmann, Ludovic Tézier, Anna Netrebko and Anita Rachvelishvili in Naples, and The Pearl Fishers plus private concerts in Palermo.

ROME: Private tour of the Vatican (Sistine Chapel, Raphael’s Rooms), Villa Borghese, Villa Medici, Forum and Colosseum, viewings of Caravaggio’s Madonna di Loreto and St. Matthew paintings.

NAPLES: Tour to Pompeii and Ercolano, Archeological Museum.

PALERMO: Capella Palatina, Capo Market, Chiesa del Gesù, Monreale, Cefalù.

Superb local cuisine, expert-led private tours, relaxed yet carefully curated itinerary, deluxe transportation including an overnight cruise from Naples to Palermo.

5-star hotels in each city: ROME - Bernini Bristol NAPLES - Grand Hotel Vesuvio PALERMO - Rocco Forte Villa Igiea

For more information, please contact Nancy Guyer at nguyer@sarasotaopera.org or (941) 366-8450 x 538

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SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

A gift to the Sarasota Opera Tribute Fund is a beautiful way to memorialize a loved one, honor a friend, colleague, or favorite artist, or celebrate a special occasion. A tribute card is sent to a family member or the honoree and is published in this newsletter.

IN HONOR OF BARB AND RON ARCHBOLD

IN MEMORY OF ELIZABETH GRAY

IN HONOR OF NORMAN AND

Marsha F Crowley

SYLVIA SAMET

Lewis and Susan Winarsky IN HONOR OF KATHERINE BENOIT AND

Martin and Diana Rosansky IN HONOR OF SCOTT GUINN Eden Bishop

JOHN BROOKS Deborah Weiss

TRIBUTES

IN HONOR OF SYLVIA SAMET Paul G Oversmith and Margaret A Churchill

IN HONOR OF ELLEN JABBUR Ken and Kathy Lang

IN MEMORY OF BEVERLY BROTH

IN MEMORY OF JAMES JOSEPH SMITH Vicki Johnson

Victor DeRenzi and Stephanie Sundine

IN MEMORY OF ROSALIND JACKSON

Molly Gautreaux

Bruce Jackson

Ilene Janofsky

Ellendar Newlon IN HONOR OF SUSAN STRAUS

Laurie Lachowitzer

IN MEMORY OF WALLY KRAEMER

Judi Morrison

Ron and Barb Archbold

Richard Russell and Cynthia Bydlinski

Victor DeRenzi and Stephanie Sundine

IN MEMORY OF SIG TOBIAS

Francine and Paul Schatz

Syble DiGirolamo

Lora Tobias

Mary Waisler

Jules Epstein

Agatha Aurbach

Karen Jason

IN MEMORY OF GREG TRUPIANO

IN HONOR OF MARY ANN DEFRONZO

Rita Kunzle

Mr. Lon Black

Marlene Kitchell

Manatee Opera Guild Drs. Louis and Rosanne Martorella

IN HONOR OF VICTOR DeRENZI,

Bill and Pat Rosenberg

MARCO NISTICO, AND MARTHA COLLINS

Richard Russell and Cynthia Bydlinski

Jacob E. Stone

Shary and Gary Skoloff

IN HONOR OF KATHLEEN AND PAUL DeVITA The Cobos Foundation IN MEMORY OF ANN GERHART ELY Manatee Opera Guild IN MEMORY OF BARNEY FITZGERALD Mr. Alexander Boyd Susan T. Danis

Arthur Siciliano and B. Aline Blanchard Mr. and Mrs. Wulff IN MEMORY OF ALAIN LEBLEU Frank and Marsha Samponaro IN HONOR OF ROSANNE MARTORELLA The Glenridge on Palmer Ranch IN HONOR OF PATRICK AND KIM NETTLES Jacob Zeigler and Cheryl O. Gorelick

Victor DeRenzi and Stephanie Sundine Howard Kaplan Lisa Kaplan

Gifts listed were received from 2/14/2023 thru 10/20/2023

To have a tribute listed, please send a contribution of $25 or more to: Sarasota Opera, Attn: Tribute Fund 61 N Pineapple Ave., Sarasota, FL 34236, or online at SarasotaOpera.org/tribute-gifts.

IN HONOR OF JULIE PLANCK Nina and Marc Schreiber

Russ and Margarete Wiltshire

SARASOTA OPERA | LIBRETTO

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NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID MANASOTA, FL PERMIT NO. 176

LIBRETTO NEWSLETTER

FALL 2023

ISSUE 157

VICTOR DeRENZI Artistic Director RICHARD RUSSELL General Director 61 North Pineapple Avenue Sarasota, FL 34236

Phone: (941) 366-8450 Fax: (941) 955-5571 Info@SarasotaOpera.org www.SarasotaOpera.org SCOTT GUINN Editor

MCKINLEY GRIFFEN DESIGN Designer

Subscriptions on sale

To subscribe, visit SarasotaOpera.org, where you can download a brochure and order form, or call (941) 328-1300.

Single tickets on sale now!

2023 FALL SEASON Britten THE MUSIC OF

THE LITTLE SWEEP

GIACOMO PUCCINI

2024 WINTER OPERA FESTIVAL Bizet Verdi

CARMEN

LUISA MILLER

Donizetti Haydn

LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR DECEIT OUTWITTED

(L’infedeltà delusa)

both online and at the Box Office.

Box Office Hours:

Open seven days a week, 10am to 5pm. Walk-ins welcome.

Box Office: (941) 328-1300 E-mail: boxoffice@sarasotaopera.org Fax the Box Office: (941) 955-5571 Online: SarasotaOpera.org

Or mail your order form to: Sarasota Opera Box Office 61 N. Pineapple Avenue Sarasota, FL 34236