Artistic Achievement Fund

Sarasota Opera's mission is to produce impassioned opera performances true to the vision of the composer to enrich, educate, and inspire our growing community. That mission can be achieved through the great works of the standard operatic repertoire, but we believe our community deserves more.

Every season Sarasota Opera produces at least one opera our audiences wouldn't be able to see anywhere else. In the 2024 Winter Opera Festival, that opera was Haydn's Deceit Outwitted, a charming comedy long neglected by US opera companies. Other operas like Catalani's La Wally (1989, 2020), Montemezzi's L'amore dei tre re (2003, 2017), Wolf-Ferrari's Il segreto di Susanna (1973, 2019), and many other rarely performed works have given Sarasota Opera audiences musical and dramatic experiences they could only experience here.

Since 2020, we have seen production costs rise to a level and at a pace we have not experienced before. This has made creating new productions, including of these new works, challenging. In addition, these rarely performed operas--which are very important to our mission and our constant pursuit of artistic excellence--don't draw the same audiences that a Tosca does. This means we need the philanthropic support of our community to achieve our artistic goals.

Supporting the Artistic Achievement Fund with gifts of $5,000 to $10,000+ brings you close to these works through access to the artists who bring them to life and special moments during the rehearsal process. You also ensure that we can continue to produce the kind of work that brings Sarasota Opera international acclaim.

Philanthropic support has made the significant artistic achievements we have accomplished over the last 65 years possible. Take your place among the supporters who founded the fund and the long line of philanthropists who have built a crown jewel of Florida's Cultural Coast™.

Annual support of the Artistic Achievement Fund provides resources that allow Sarasota Opera to take the artistic risks that set us apart from similarly sized opera companies. These additional funds will help Sarasota Opera continue to create new productions of rarely seen operas and cover the rising production costs of major works that are important to our mission.

In addition to Patron tier ($5,000) or Leadership tier ($7,500 +) benefits, Artistic Achievement Fund supporters also receive:

At $5,000
Invitation to a Meet & Mingle with the cast of an opera the Fund is supporting

At $7,500
Invitation to the Italiana (the first rehearsal where the orchestra and singers rehearse together) of one Winter Festival production

At $10,000
Invitation to an on-stage rehearsals of one Winter Festival production
Invitation to the Set Parade (first glimpse of a production's set on stage) of an opera the Fund is supporting