Former Sarasota Opera Apprentice and Studio Artist at the Met

Former Sarasota Opera Apprentice and Studio Artist Kathleen Kim was a huge hit in the Metropolitan Opera's new production of Les Contes d'Hoffmann. Anthony Tommasini in the NY Times praised her Olympia: "The role's high-flying runs and roulades require a true, agile coloratura soprano, and this production has one in the petite Kathleen Kim, who excelled in Olympia's showpiece aria, singing with pinpoint pitch, bright tone and impressive accuracy."

She can bee seen in the Encore HD Live Telecast on January 6. It will likely turn up on PBS sometime this winter as well.

Ms. Kim was a 2002 Sarasota Opera Apprentice Artist and a Studio Artist in 2005. She was the recipeint of the Sarasota Opera Guild's Leo M. Rogers Scholarship.

Divas & Dudes 5k, Saturday, November 14

Tomorrow - Divas & Dudes 5K - Payne Park - 8 a.m. You can still sign up at the field starting at 7 a.m.! Proceeds benefit Sarasota Youth Opera.

Fall Apprentice Artists in Concert

Our fabulous Fall Apprentice Artists will perform in concert Tuesday, Nov. 10, at 8 p.m. at the Sarasota Opera House. These talented singers have been receiving rave reviews from concert goers this season. Tickets are $5 each. Get them while they're hot!

Sarasota Opera on WWSB ABC 7's Suncoast Scene

Sarasota Opera's La traviata is Linda Carson's pick of the Week on the Suncoast Scene. Telephone number is incorrect, however. It should be 366-8450. Check out the link!

http://www.wwsb.tv/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=4251841&h1=Event%20of%20the%20Week%20-%20Sarasota%20Opera%20performs%20%22La%20Traviata%22&vt1=v&at1=Station%206&d1=182733&LaunchPageAdTag=Station%206&activePane=info&rnd=63630726

If you missed Sarasota Opera’s Thursdays at Four free Lobby Concert last week, you have two more opportunites to hear the company’s Apprentice Artists perform solos and ensembles from opera and operetta. The second performance is this Thursday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m. The third and final performance in the series is Nov. 5 at 4 p.m. All performances are in the Opera House’s Victoria Leopold Grand Atrium. This themed presentation is titled Walt Whitman: His Poetry and Music. American writer Walt Whitman was an opera buff and the creator of more than 400 poems. There are more musical settings of his texts than of any other American author. The program features selections from operas that Whitman saw and commented on, including Verdi’s I Lomdardi, von Weber’s Der Freischütz, and Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Popular music of Whitman’s day, including music performed by the Hutchinson Family Singers (Whitman’s favorite singing group) and the Civil War song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again” is also of the program. In addition, numerous musical versions of Whitman’s poems will be heard. Limited seating is available.
Pictured here are tenor Bernard Holcombe, soprano Rebekah Diaz, and Roger Bingaman, Director of Sarasota Opera’s Apprentice Artist Program, at the Thursday, Oct. 22 free concert.

Seocnd photo, are soprano Carelle Flores Rebekah Diaz and Maestro Roger Bingaman, also at the Thursday, Oct. 22 free concert.

New Subscriber Day at Sarasota Opera

New Sarasota Opera subscribers are treated to a private mini-concert and tours of the William E. Schmidt Opera Theater, backstage, and costume shop. Some of them even sampled the view from their subscription seats. Here Marketing Director Richard Russell shows patrons the set for Verdi's La traviata as well as the view from the stage. La traviata opens October 30 at 8 p.m.

Let the rehearsals begin!

The singers are here. The director is here. The crew is here. And rehearsals for La traviata begin today! Don't miss it. Performances are October 30, November 3, 5, and 11 at 8 p.m. and November 1 and 8 at 1:30 p.m. Call 941-366-8450, ext. 1 for more info.

What's a Super? Want to be One?

Supers, short for supernumeraries, are the non singing "extras" that Sarasota Opera uses in its productions. This upcoming winter season Sarasota Opera needs male and female supers to play the roles of couriers, nuns, soldiers, cardinals and priests. If you are interested in volunteering your time as a super, you should attend the Super Call, Thursday, October 29 at 1 p.m. (Gather in the Opera House Courtyard). Your attendance at the Call doesn't guarantee that you'll be a super. Directors of our productions will interview applicants and members of the costume shop staff will be taking measurements to see if they have a costume that will fit.
Being a super requires both day and night-time availability.
Sarasota Opera House is at 61 N. Pineapple Ave., Sarasota. If you have any questions, call Sarasota Opera's Artistic Administrator, Greg Trupiano, at (941) 366-8450, ext. 420, or email him at gtrupiano@sarasotaopera.org

Free Performances Friday, October 2

October is almost here - and in Sarasota that means Opera!
Singers, crew, and other members of our artistic staff are beginning to head back into town for our Fall Opera season.
Stop in at Galleria Silecchia, 20 S. Palm Avenue, downtown Sarasota, Friday evening, Oct. 2 during the Palm Avenue First Friday Walk.
Sarasota Opera artists Alissa Anderson and Evan Brummel will be performing at 7, 7:30 and 8 p.m. Listen to the music, peruse the art. It all makes for a joyous evening.
This is only the first of many performances during our fall season.
Hope to see you there.

More 2009 Tosca Video - E lucevan le stelle

Rafael Dávila singing E lucevan le stelle from our 2009 Production of Tosca.

Tosca - Sarasota Opera 2009

A remembrance from the 2009 season with the fabulous Kara Shay Thomson as Tosca.

It's Enrollment time for Sarasota Youth Opera

Do you or any young people you know like to sing? Anyone aged 8-18 may enroll now in Sarasota Youth Opera.
During the fall and winter, Youth Opera will perform in outreach concerts throughout the community as well as at Sarasota Opera. And this year, singers will be eligible to audition for 42 singing and 12 non-singing children’s roles in Sarasota Opera’s Winter Opera Festival. Last year twelve young singers performed in Tosca.
In May, all members of Sarasota Youth Opera will perform in a fully staged opera with orchestra, Judith Weir’s The Black Spider, on the stage of the William E. Schmidt Opera Theater in the Sarasota Opera House. Placement Classes are Aug. 26, 27, and 28. Those joining should attend.
Call (941) 366-8450, ext. 0 to enroll or for more information.

2010 Apprentice Program

Applications are now being accepted for the 2010 Sarasota Opera Apprentice Program. The year applications are being accepted through YAPTracker.

The 2010 Apprentice Program runs January 8 through March 21. In addition to serving as chorus for four of the five main stage operas (Cavalleria rusticana, Pagliacci, The Magic Flute, and Giovanna d'Arco), Apprentices receive musical, dramatic, and language coaching, participate in master classes and have many performance opportunities. This year's program will culminate in a concert on the stage of the Sarasota Opera House, accompanied by full orchestra.

Deadline for applications is August 17.

Sarasota Opera and Sarasota Orchestra team up for free community music celebration

Sarasota Opera and the Sarasota Orchestra have partnered in concerts in the past and last November for the production of The Barber of Seville but on January 18, they are joining together for a free community event. From 1 to 3 p.m. at the Opera House there will be live performances, demonstrations (including an instrument "petting zoo") and more.

The Sarasota Orchestra, singers from the Sarasota Opera 2009 Winter Opera Festival and the Sarasota Youth Opera will perform on the stage of the Sarasota Opera House, as well as outside in the adjacent courtyard.

Both organizations will be offering special ticket offers, a free ticket drawing, complimentary refreshments and a free gift to all who attend, while supplies last.

This afternoon celebration is suitable for families and is free. No tickets are required, only a willingness to come and enjoy yourselves.

I hope we see you there!