After 44 Years at Sarasota Opera, Victor DeRenzi Is Heading to the Gardens
Image: Courtesy Photo
Marie Selby Botanical Gardens announced Monday that former Sarasota Opera artistic director and principal conductor Victor DeRenzi will serve as honorary curator of its spring 2027 season at the Downtown Sarasota campus. The collaboration will explore the connections between music, nature and the visual and performing arts through exhibitions and public programming.
Exactly what visitors will see and hear remains under wraps. Selby Gardens leadership says dates, exhibition titles and additional program details will be released later.
The appointment gives DeRenzi a new cultural role shortly after the conclusion of his 44-year tenure at Sarasota Opera. He joined Sarasota Opera in 1982 and left at the end of his contract in May 2026. During that time, he oversaw more than 1,500 performances of 218 productions in nine languages and conducted close to 900 performances. He also founded Sarasota Opera’s Masterworks Revival Series and American Classics Series, and helped develop the company’s youth and artist-training programs.
His defining achievement was the company’s Verdi Cycle, a 28-season undertaking launched in 1989 and completed in 2016. Sarasota Opera became the only opera company in the world to present every work by Giuseppe Verdi in every version.
Image: Ryan Gamma
That kind of long-range artistic thinking fits with Selby Gardens, which increasingly uses its grounds as more than a setting for plants. Its Living Museum model combines horticultural displays with exhibitions examining artists and their relationships to nature. The annual Jean and Alfred Goldstein Exhibition Series, launched in 2015, has featured immersive exhibits inspired by major artists and their work.
The 2026 installment, Alexander Calder: The Nature of Movement, paired original Calder artworks with garden installations exploring abstraction, movement, nature and the artist’s fascination with the circus. While the exhibit was up, Selby Gardens presented related performances by Sarasota Opera and the Circus Arts Conservatory.
DeRenzi’s season is poised to carry that interdisciplinary approach more directly into music and performance, examining how botanical environments have influenced generations of artists and musicians. Now, instead of conducting from the opera house, DeRenzi's stage will be orchids, bromeliads and Sarasota Bay.
Selby Gardens’ spring 2027 season will take place at its downtown Sarasota campus, 1534 Mound St. Program dates and details haven’t yet been announced.
