Richard Russell News

Sarasota Opera is the recipient of an $8,000 grant for the commissioning of composer Rachel J. Peters for the creation of Rootabaga Country, Sarasota Youth Opera's sixth world premiere scheduled to be performed on November 11 and 12, 2017. The grant is provided by OPERA America's Opera Grants for Female Composers program, supported by the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation.

Sarasota Opera announces an expansion of their "HD at the Movie House" series entitled "Classic Moves at the Opera House." Originally designed as a movie house and vaudeville theater, Sarasota Opera is embracing the history of the building by bringing many of the classic films that once played at the theater when they originally premiered.

World premieres, new productions, and exciting artist debuts will make the 59th season at Sarasota Opera a season not to miss. Highlights of the upcoming year include the return of Giuseppe Verdi, the 6th Sarasota Youth Opera world premiere, and operas by composers such as Vincenzo Bellini and Eugen D'Albert whose operas have not been heard on our stage.

National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Jane Chu has approved more than $82 million to fund local arts projects across the country in the NEA's second major funding announcement for fiscal year 2017. Included in this announcement is an Art Works award of $20,000 to the Sarasota Opera in support of the commissioning and world premiere of Rootabaga Country, a new opera by composer by Rachel J. Peters which will mark the company's 6th world premiere. The NEA received 1,728 Art Works applications and will make 1,029 grants ranging from $10,000 to $100,000.

Sarasota Opera has joined forces with six opera companies nationwide to create a new commissioning initiative entitled Opera for All Voices: Stories of our Time. This new venture is committed to telling wide-ranging stories that resonate with audiences regardless of age or prior experience with opera. Selected works will be co-commissioned and co-produced with other participating companies including Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Minnesota Opera, San Francisco Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Seattle Opera.

Sarasota Opera announced a new slate of officers and the appointment of a new board member at their annual meeting on May 1, 2017.

Sarasota Opera announced a new slate of officers and the appointment of a new board member at their annual meeting on May 1, 2017.

Dean Devlin's Electric Entertainment announced today that it has acquired all rights for the U.S. and Canada for director Rob Reiner's LBJ starring Woody Harrelson in the role of the bombastic 36th President.

Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce the line-up for the 2017 season of 'HD at the Opera House'.  This weekly Sunday afternoon series of filmed performances, which debuted in 2014, has allowed Sarasota Opera to expand its programming from the fall and winter season to year-around.

On Tuesday, March 21st, Sarasota Opera officially dedicated the newly built Steinwachs Artist Residences for Sarasota Opera located at 1444 Boulevard of the Arts in Sarasota, FL.

???????Political intrigue takes center stage at Actors' Playhouse in the Tony Award-winning drama All The Way by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan.

South Portland's Lyric Music Theater is taking a bold and daring step in presenting the 2006 musical adaptation of Frank Wedekind's 1891 provocative play, Spring Awakening. The wrenching musical drama explores with a piercing honesty the lives of teenagers and their adult authority figures locked in a lethal struggle as the young men and women search for freedom of expression, sexual liberation and fulfillment, and the embrace of their true identities in a dark, corseted world of repression and convention. The issues raised by Frank Wedekind's play remain as potent and relevant today as they did in the late 19th century, and the Steven Sater book and lyrics and Duncan Sheik music remain true to the essence of the piece. Wedekind's world - the world of Freud and nascent psychology - is a bleak place where adults abuse their children psychologically and physically, where creativity is stifled, and love - as a total expression of body and soul - is forbidden. In this dark universe, the young villagers long in secret and search for a path through the pain.

The xx today release the video for “Say Something Loving.” Filmed in the band's hometown of London, the video was directed by renowned photographer and filmmaker Alasdair McLellan

 Due to overwhelming demand, Sarasota Opera is pleased to announce a 12th performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly has been added for Sunday, March 12th at 7:30pm. Since the opera opened on February 11th, every performance has been a sell-out with limited ticket availability for upcoming performances.

Political intrigue will take center stage as Actors' Playhouse prepares to open the Tony Award-winning drama All The Way by Pultizer Prize-winning playwright Robert Schenkkan. This riveting behind-the-scenes look at President Lyndon B. Johnson's (LBJ) tumultuous first year in office in the wake of President Kennedy's assassination has earned accolades from audiences and critics alike, from its start at Oregon Shakespeare Festival to its powerful Broadway run and most recent HBO Films adaptation starring four-time Emmy® winner Bryan Cranston. Artistic Director David Arisco directs this limited engagement production that will run March 22 - April 9, 2017 at the Miracle Theatre.

Jacqueline E. Lawton's new political thriller Intelligence makes its world premiere at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. Under the direction of Daniella Topol (Round House's Ironbound), Intelligence explores the cost of deception and the consequences of speaking truth to power. Due to popular demand, the production has been extended for one week with eight additional performances and will run February 24-April 9, 2017 in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle.

For the first time, Sarasota Opera and the Sarasota chapter of the Alliance Francaise will partner to present a free program entitled "Dialogues of the Carmelites: Beyond the Stage" today, February 15th at 7pm in the Kamlet Library at the Sarasota Opera House. 

Sarasota Opera announced its 2017/18 Fall and Winter Festival Season today at a press conference held on the Sarasota Opera House main stage in Sarasota, FL. The event was overseen by Maestro Victor DeRenzi, artistic director and principal conductor, and Richard Russell, Executive Director.

Thrilling music, exciting new voices, and compelling theater will launch Sarasota Opera into its 58th Winter Festival Season on Saturday, February 11th, 2017. This will be the company's first season in 28 years to not include any operas by Giuseppe Verdi.

For the first time, Sarasota Opera and the Sarasota chapter of the Alliance Francaise will partner to present a free program entitled "Dialogues of the Carmelites: Beyond the Stage" on Wednesday, February 15th at 7pm in the Kamlet Library at the Sarasota Opera House.