Soprano Caitlin Crabill Will Now Sing the Role of Wally in Sarasota Opera's LA WALLY

Executive Director Richard Russell and Artistic Director Victor DeRenzi have announced that soprano Caitlin Crabill will be performing the role of Wally for all performances of Sarasota Opera's production of Alfredo Catalani's La Wally, opening Saturday, March 7, 2020. Teresa Romano, who was originally scheduled to sing in the production, has withdrawn due to illness.

Ms. Crabill covered and performed the title role in Turandot during the 2019 Winter Opera Festival. She will sing the role of Dona Elvira in the company's 2020 fall season production of Don Giovanni. Ms. Crabill was formerly a member of both the Sarasota Opera Apprentice and Studio Artist programs. She has also performed the role of Cio-Cio-San in Puccini's Madama Butterfly with Central City Opera.

Sarasota Opera's new production of La Wally (pronounced "lah vahLEE") - the final opera of the 2020 Winter Opera Festival - is a work not seen in the U.S. for more than 30 years. The work's lush and melodic music features one of opera's most captivating arias, "Ebben? Ne andrò lontana," ("Well, then? I'll go far away"), a sad and haunting song that was featured in Jean-Jacques Beineix's 1981 French thriller film, Diva. La Wally will have six performances through March 22, 2020. Tickets start at $19. For more information, visit SarasotaOpera.org, call (941) 328-1300, or visit the box office at 61 N. Pineapple Avenue, Sarasota, FL 34236.

This is Sarasota Opera's 61st Season of bringing world-class opera to Florida's Gulf Coast. The company was launched in 1960, when a touring chamber opera company came to the historic 320-seat Asolo Theater on the grounds of Sarasota's Ringling Museum of Art. The following year the Asolo Opera Guild was formed to present the season. By 1974 the Asolo Opera was mounting its own productions at the theater. Recognizing the need for a theater more conducive to full-scale opera, the company purchased the former A.B. Edwards Theater which in 1984 (as the Sarasota Opera House) became home to the newly renamed Sarasota Opera. The building underwent a $20 million renovation and rehabilitation in 2007 enhancing audience amenities, while updating the technical facilities, including increasing the size of the orchestra pit. The theater, which reopened in March 2008, has been called "one of America's finest venues for opera" by Musical America.