“Now in its 44th season, Sarasota Opera continues to demonstrate what a small regional company can accomplish with vision and strong artistic leadership. . . Under the inspired guidance of the artistic director Victor DeRenzi, Sarasota Opera is becoming a favoured destination for aficionados, attracted by its bracing mix of the familiar and adventurous, performed by up-and-coming young singers in an intimate setting. . . DeRenzi is one of the finest Verdian conductors before the public. . .”
-- Opera, July ’03

“Best of all was the revival of Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers, beautifully sung in a visually sumptuous production. . .”
-- Chicago Tribune, April ’03

“Victor DeRenzi conducted the orchestra with idiomatic, Italianate warmth and Verdian intensity. . . DeRenzi and Sarasota Opera deserve credit for allowing us the chance to hear Verdi’s art at its nascent stage.”
-- Opera News, review of ‘Oberto’

“Keeping with its decade-long tradition of performing either unusual works, or original versions of Verdi’s operas . . . every opera lover must feel endebted to the Sarasota Opera Company for its choosing to walk a less traveled path.”
-- Nicola Lischi, Radiotelevisione Italiana

Verdi’s ‘Il Trouvère:“But to hear the quintessential Italian opera (‘Il Trovatore’) in French was a deliciously odd and memorable sensation. It contributed to my understanding of Verdi.”
-- St. Petersburg Times, March ’03

THE SARASOTA OPERA:

Price Per Person
(Based on double occupancy):
$1,790

Single room supplement:
$495

Florida’s innovative Sarasota Opera has emerged in recent years as one of our most imaginative and successful regional companies. This season will mark the company’s nineteenth anniversary in the Mediterranean Revival Opera House, an intimate and charming venue listed in our National Historic Registry as a Florida landmark. For the past several years, our repeat travelers have recognized the high quality of the Sarasota Opera and continue to choose March as the ideal time to escape from winter. For 2004, our accommodations will be at the deluxe Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Sarasota’s newest and most glamorous property.

The Sarasota Opera’s outstanding productions and unusual repertory are due to the leadership of Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi. We have been honored on several recent occasions by Mr. DeRenzi joining our final dinner with his estute personal comments about his operatic season. The acoustically perfect opera house contains only l,000 seats, and most evenings are completely booked months in advance.

Following the pattern of the last few years, our 2004 visit will again include all four of the operatic evenings – each in a major new production. This year’s repertoire includes the balanced variety of two justifiably popular works from the standard repertory – Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte and Puccini’s Tosca – and two operas infrequently encountered today – Massenet’s French melo-drama, Werther, and Verdi’s early music-drama, Il Corsaro. There are very few companies in this country where opera aficionados can indulge in the luxury of four different works of such high quality on four successive days. The Sarasota Opera continues to set an ambitious example during this era of economic austerity by mounting their entire 2004 season in four new productions.

All four operas will be sung in the original language, with English surtitles.

Our first daytime excursion this year will include the newly renovated Ringling Mansion “Ca d’Zan”, and the Ringling Museum of Art. A second excursion will take us to the lush Marie Selbye Botanical Gardens and the fashionable boutiques of St. Armand’s Circle adjacent to Longboat Key. The area’s combination of musical, artistic and natural treasures truly offers the enticing winter break that everyone is looking for. The glorious coastal sands of Sarasota’s Key islands continue unbroken for several miles and are justifiably ranked by National Geographic magazine as one of the three finest beaches in the world, matched only by Waikiki and the French Riviera.

To take advantage of the lowest airfares to Florida, we have carefully selected our dates to include a Saturday night stay-over. We urge you to make your air reservations AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE to avoid inflated high season airfares.

Our accommodations are for four nights at The Ritz-Carlton, the resort’s highest rated and most sought-after hotel. Newly opened in 2002, the Ritz has immediately become the area’s premium property and was unanimously applauded by our Tour members last March. The refined but sumptuous elegance is characteristic of the deluxe image maintained by the Ritz-Carlton chain throughout the country. The 225 rooms all boast a private balcony, state-of-the-art communication facilities, and 24-hour room service. The hotel’s dining facilities range from the Verona Restaurant for contemporary Mediterranean cuisine and the Bay View Bar & Grill for casual outdoor meals to the Lobby Lounge for drinks and afternoon tea and the Ca d’Zan Bar for cocktails overlooking Sarasota Bay. The heated outdoor swimming pool and fully equipped fitness center are beautifully incorporated into the creative design of the hotel and surrounding landscaped gardens. We are confident that our travelers will agree that the experience of staying at the Ritz will justify the premium price.