Sarasota Opera artistic director will step down after 44 years

Victor DeRenzi, who built a small-town opera company into a world-class institution, will step down in May 2026 after 44 years as artistic director and principal conductor of the Sarasota Opera. 

Sarasota Opera General Director Richard Russell will succeed DeRenzi, who will add artistic director to his current position beginning in June 2026. Russell has more than two decades of experience with the opera, having served as executive director from 2012 to 2021 and general director since 2021.  

A native of Staten Island, New York, DeRenzi joined the Sarasota Opera in 1982, its last season performing at the Historic Asolo Theater in The Ringling before moving to its current downtown building, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2026. 

Under DeRenzi's leadership, the Sarasota Opera became the only company in the world to perform all of composer Guiseppe Verdi’s works. The opera began its 28-year Verdi voyage in 1989 with “Rigoletto" and completed the Verdi Cycle in 2016 with “Aida” and “The Battle of Legnano.” 

Over the years, DeRenzi and Russell have developed friendly relations with the exclusive Club dei 27, in Parma, Italy, named for the number of operas Verdi composed. 

According to the Sarasota Opera, DeRenzi's 44-year tenure makes him the longest-serving artistic director in the world. In Sarasota, only Florida Studio Theatre Managing Director Richard Hopkins, who has been in his job for 45 years, exceeds DeRenzi. 

As artistic director of Sarasota Opera, DeRenzi has overseen more than 1,500 performances of 218 productions performed in nine languages. Of those, he conducted close to 900. He has also been a champion of education and artist development through the Sarasota Youth Opera and the Apprentice and Studio Artists programs for singers, pianists and stage directors. 

“What Sarasota Opera has become over the last four decades is the result of Victor’s vision," said Russell in a statement. "His uncompromising attitude toward producing the best possible work for our audience has shaped every aspect of this company. His legacy will continue to inspire us.”

Arthur Siciliano, chair of the opera's board of trustees, added: “Victor’s artistic leadership has been the cornerstone of Sarasota Opera’s growth and reputation. His devotion to the art form, the artists and the audience has elevated our company to national and international prominence. On behalf of the board, we thank him for his decades of service.”

DeRenzi wasn't immediately available for comment about why he has chosen to step down from the Sarasota Opera in its 67th season. It also is unknown who will lead the orchestra after DeRenzi steps down because Russell isn't a conductor. 

In a February interview with the Observer, DeRenzi said he first fell in love with the opera when he saw Verdi’s “La forza de destino” as a youth. The son of a dock worker and a homemaker, DeRenzi wasn't exposed to opera while growing up in his Italian-American household.

While still a student, DeRenzi joined his teacher at a small Staten Island opera called the Matinee Players, where DeRenzi sang in the chorus and built sets. 

His love of opera propelled him to major in music theory at Queens College, part of City University of New York. DeRenzi also privately studied theory, piano and conducting. 

When he was just 20, DeRenzi landed a job as the conductor of a chorus at Wagner College on Staten Island made up of students, faculty and community members.

When he joined the Sarasota Opera, DeRenzi says it wasn’t “well-established. It wasn’t a matter of fitting into a mold. It was a matter of making the mold,” he told the Observer.

“In 1982, I was hired by Sarasota Opera to give artistic direction to the company and its future. I am proud that my belief in opera and my unwillingness to be swayed from it has brought the company to where it is today,” DeRenzi said in a statement.

At his side every step of the way has been his wife, Stephanie Sundine, a former opera singer who is a stage manager at the Sarasota Opera. DeRenzi met his future wife at an audition for Verdi's "Falstaff" at New York Lyric Opera in 1977. 

DeRenzi has been honored many times throughout his career, but one of the biggest awards came from the government of Italy, which bestowed him with the title of Cavaliere dell’ordine della Stella d’Italia (Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy) in 2016.

Whether or not they are opera buffs, Sarasota residents have DeRenzi and his team to thank for a $20 million overhaul of the Opera House in 2007-2008, which made it into one of the most beautiful buildings downtown.

The Sarasota Opera moved into the Edwards Theatre in 1984, after its predecessor organization acquired the building in 1979 and renovated it. In addition to housing the Opera, the Sarasota Orchestra, the Sarasota Ballet, other local arts organizations and touring productions also used the theater.