CHRISTOPHER CANO

Studio program creates stage for young artists to blossom

Christopher Cano calls himself a “go big or go home kind of guy.” A transformative Arizona Opera studio is what happens when he does both.

In 2017, Cano left the Manhattan School of Music, where he taught for 17 years, to become head of music at Arizona Opera and director of the Marion Roose Pullin Arizona Opera Studio. Back home, where he had received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in piano performance from The University of Arizona, he found the professional opportunity of his dreams.

STUDIO PROGRAM In his freelance work, Cano noticed that young artists often were relegated to minor roles. In his two-season studio program, they participate in at least six shows. By the second season, they own the stage in the manner only people with experience own it.

“The only way any young artist is going to learn how to do the job is to actually do the job,” Cano says. “It really was imperative to take risks, and

I’m very lucky that I have a team [at Arizona Opera] that understands and appreciates the importance of that.”

Understanding and appreciation are growing. In the last application round, Cano reviewed 552 candidates. The highly competitive program accepted five—three singers, one pianist and one assistant stage director.

SHOWTIME This month, studio artists will showcase their talents in Scenes in the Wittcoff performances in Phoenix and Tucson. Cano was born in the former and raised in the latter.

“To be able to come home and go back to my roots was always something I had hoped would happen,” Cano says. “It’s an incredible journey, and I couldn’t be happier with where we are as a program and where the company is at large.”

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Known for fight choreography, valued as a director and teacher

If you’re watching a live performance in Tucson where a scene calls for violence—a fight with knives or swords, for example—chances are you’re looking at the choreography of Brent Gibbs, a battle-tested theater professional who thankfully shows no sign of throwing in the towel.

Now that we’ve got all the fight metaphors out of the way, let’s talk about what really animates Gibbs, who has earned elite status in the rarefied realm of stage combat.

Director And Teacher

“Everyone becomes fixated on the stage combat because it’s the most exotic thing that I do,” Gibbs says. “But I think I make much more of an impact as a director. I think I make much more of an impact as a teacher.”

Gibbs has taught theater at the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film & Television for 29 years and was artistic director at Arizona Repertory Theatre for many years before happily handing the reins this season to Hank Stratton. As a professor, he’ll continue to direct and choreograph plays. In the 2021/22 season, he’ll direct the production of Three Sisters and will be the fight choreographer for Living Dead in Denmark

FIGHT DIRECTOR