Black Tie & Tales

+ And the winners are ...
The star of the lively live auction at Sarasota Museum of Art’s RE:The Bash! was one enormous 6-liter bottle of Chateau Petrus, millennium year. Only 18 such bottles of the 2000 vintage have been sold at auction worldwide until now, at an average price of $44,800. The first winner here was the wine’s sole owner, David Potok of Cumberland Advisors, who had the joy of donating it. Then there was the perfect pairing with the auctioneer, wine merchant and oenophile extraordinaire Michael Klauber. The winning bidder was Robert Eisenbeis, who bought the equivalent of eight bottles of Petrus for $32,000. The biggest winner, of course, is the Sarasota community for the combination of exhibitions and education that the museum will offer when it opens in 2016.

Congratulations to event committee leaders Brad and Mary Beth Goddard; Jean Martin and Doc Werlin; Mary Ann and John Meyer; Sherry and Tom Koski; Kat and Florian Schuetz; and Wendy Surkis and Peppi Elona and to honorary co-chairs Brooke Callanen and Dottie Baer Garner.

+ Love of the opera leads to love
The most adoring fans of Sarasota Opera’s Verdi cycle belong to its elite Verdi Society, which now has a full complement of 33 members — one for each of the composer’s operas. Maestro Victor DeRenzi introduced the newest enrollees at the society’s annual dinner sponsored by Fifth Third Bank at Mattson’s 41 Jan. 15. They are Louis and Elizabeth Wery, Ken Hunt, and Forrest Crawford and Sally Foote.

Crawford and Foote are an operatic love story as a couple. They met 10 years ago at a Sarasota Opera performance of “Pagliacci.” Foote in those days attended the opera with Don and Rachel Worthington (he later became president of the opera board). When their friend Crawford was coming to the opera for the first time, Foote wanted to be sure that he had a good seat, which ended up being at her side. He has been there pretty much ever since; the couple wed eight years ago, both for the first time, and are busy living happily ever after, a way better ending than “Pagliacci.”

+ Toasting Trupiano
Last week’s first opera event was the Bradenton Opera Guild’s Winter Soirée honoring Greg Trupiano Jan. 11, at Bird Key Yacht Club. Trupiano is director of artistic administration of the Sarasota Opera, with which he has been associated in various capacities since 1987. 

It is fair to say that the Sarasota Opera would not be what it is without this boy from Brooklyn, and that’s the gist of the many toasts in his honor throughout the evening. There were performances by Sarasota Opera Artists as well, but the unique moments came in Trupiano’s time on stage. Ever creative, he challenged guests with three questions, and handed out prizes for the correct answers: “1) In what county was I born? 2) What was the first opera I ever saw? 3) What was the first opera I heard Maestro Defense conduct? Answers below.

Answers:  Kings County, “La Boheme,” “Madama Butterfly”

+ Tidbits
Sneak peek open house … It’s your first chance to see what Dr. Fritz and Ping Faulhaber are up to with the Suncoast Science Center. Tour the facility, see the Science Lending Laboratory, learn the opportunities available in the Fab Lab and take part in science-based activities for folks of all ages. The open house is 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Jan. 24, at 4452 Beneva Road on the campus of SCTI … Record sell-out … Congrats to Make-A-Wish Central and Northern Florida for already selling out its Feb. 26 Cooking for Wishes event — well, actually overselling and with a wait list of more than 60 … Backstage at the Circus Arts Conservatory … Debra Sandefur showed up at the Circus Arts Conservatory offices last week saying that she and her son Johnny wanted to underwrite the valet parking for the upcoming CAC Jan. 30 gala. The party honors Debra’s mother, Tana Sandefur, and anyone who knew her knew her fondness for valet parking ... Another chance to watch Wallenda … A trip to accompany Nik Wallenda and crew to his Grand Canyon walk was the big seller at the Circus’s live auction last year and it looks like there will be a similar package for his upcoming walk across Georgia’s Tallulah Gorge this year.