A&E Picks and Highlights

VISUAL ARTS

Creators & Collectors Self-Guided Art & Studio Tour
The Fine Arts Society of Sarasota
Diane Roskamp Exhibition Hall, Ringling College of Art & Design
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 13 and 14
Tickets: $20 in advance; $25 at the door. Call 330-0680.

PERFORMING ARTS

Fuzión Dance Artists 9th Annual Concert
Jane B. Cook Theater, FSU Center for the Performing Arts
7:30 p.m. March 12,13 and 14; 2 p.m. March 15
Tickets: $39; $15 student rush. Call 359-0099.

‘Jersey Boys’
Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
8 p.m. March 12, 13 and 14; 2 p.m. March 12 and 14; 1:30 and 7 p.m. March 15
Tickets: $65 to $120. Call 953-3368.

‘Our Betters’
Mertz Theatre, Asolo Repertory Theatre
8 p.m. March 12 and 13; 2 p.m. March 18
Runs through April 19
Tickets: $22 to $54. Call 351-8000.

‘Catch Me If You Can’
Players Theatre
7:30 p.m. March 18
Runs through April 4.
Tickets: $25 to $30. Call 365-2494.

‘I’m A Stranger Here Myself’
Keating Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre
8 p.m. March 17 and 18
Runs through March 29.
Tickets: $36 to $39. Call 366-9000.

MUSIC

The Judi Glover Quartet
The Venice Arts Center
2 p.m. March 12
Tickets: $12. Call 485-7136.

Francis Schwartz and Tania-Maria Rodriguez
Lifelong Learning Academy
Selby Auditorium, USF Sarasota-Manatee
3 p.m. March 12
Tickets: $15. Call 359-4296.

Soundscapes: Masterworks for Percussion
First United Methodist Church
4 p.m. March 12
Tickets: $10. Call 955-0935.

Concert at Noon: Studio and Apprentice Artists
Sarasota Opera House
Noon March 13
Tickets: $5. Call 366-8450.

John DePaola Quartet
The Jazz Club of Sarasota, Unitarian Universalist
Church of Sarasota
2 p.m. March 13
Tickets: $8 to $12. Call 366-1552.

Covers at 3
Studio Artists of Sarasota Opera, Sarasota Opera House
3 p.m. March 13
Tickets: $5. Call 366-8450.

The Ying Quartet
Artist Series Concerts of Sarasota, Historic Asolo Theater
7:30 p.m. March 14 and 15
Tickets: $25 to $45. Call 360-7399.

Cynthia Sayer, jazz banjo
Glenridge Performing Arts Center
8 p.m. March 14; 2 p.m. March 15
Tickets: $17.50 to $22.50. Call 552-5325.

Polish American Association of Sarasota Concert
Holley Hall at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center
4 p.m. March 15
Tickets: $30, $15 with student ID. Call 924-0899.

The Takács Quartet with Joy Yang
Sarasota Concert Association, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall
8 p.m. March 17
Tickets: $40 to $70. Call 225-6500.

Nick’s Pick

‘Don Carlos’
Even though it’s the penultimate year of Sarasota Opera’s nearly three decades-long Verdi Cycle (performing every major and minor work by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi), this year’s addition to the cycle feels like a grand and epic finale.
“Don Carlos” is the Italian master’s five-act grand opera and depicts the story of love and betrayal in the Spanish royal family between King Phillippe II and his son, Don Carlos, as they vie for the affection of the French princess, Élisabeth de Valois. This rarely performed “Paris version” of the show, which includes the original first act in the wintry forests of Fontainebleau, France, is more than four-and-a-half-hour opera experience if one counts the two 20-minute intermissions.
Running this week at 6:30 p.m. March 12 and 18 and 1:30 p.m. March 15, the opera, like any great work of art, compresses that intimidating runtime. And with sophisticated sets and costumes, stellar performances by leads Jonathan Burton, Michelle Johnson, Kevin Short, Marco Nisticò, Young Bok Kim and Mary Phillips, as well as pristine musical performance by the orchestra led by Maestro Victor DeRenzi, four-and-a-half hours have never passed by so quickly or so enjoyably.

Where: Sarasota Opera House
When: Runs through March 24
Tickets: $19 to $125
Info: Call 328-1300