Marco Nistico, who has become a familiar performer with Sarasota Opera since his local debut in 2008, is joining the company as the new artistic administrator. Nistico,an Italian-born baritone who appeared in more than a dozen principal roles in Sarasota, had already begun a transition from singing to staging and administrative work.

He directed Donizetti’s “The Elixir of Love” for Sarasota Opera earlier this year, and he was hired in 2019 as the general director of Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he was responsible for both the business and artistic sides of the company.