In the 1970s, opera in Sarasota was performed at the Asolo Theater, now housed at the Ringling Museum of Art and currently known as the Historic Asolo Theater. Opera devotees soon realized that an organization to help publicize and raise funds would benefit Asolo Opera. The Asolo Opera Society was formed and named in 1977, preventing a conflict with the Opera Guild, which was the name of the opera production team. The Opera Guild became Sarasota Opera, our parent organization, and we became the Opera Guild in 1989.
That first meeting in 1977 attracted 14 people. Deane Allyn, who passed away in 2014, was the Guild’s second president. Looking for a permanent opera house, she discovered that the A.B. Edwards Theater property was for sale, but she needed money immediately to preclude a potential buyer. Her alarm to then Board Chair, Leo Rogers, rang true. He sent the down payment with instructions to form a business group that would carry the initial mortgage. In l984, Sarasota Opera opened its first season in the rehabilitated Opera House.
Twenty-four years later, in 2008, after another major renovation, a grand reopening was held under the leadership of Maestro Victor DeRenzi. In 2015-16, the Sarasota Opera completed the final season of its 28-year Verdi Cycle, and thus became the only opera company in the world to perform every note of music for performance that Verdi ever wrote.
In 2026 Sarasota Opera will celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the A.B Edwards Theater, now named “The Sarasota Opera House”. Bravo, Sarasota Opera!
