EL MILAGRO DEL RECUERDO | PHOTO BY LYNN LANE
ARIZONA OPERA CELEBRATES 50TH SEASON with Audience Favorites and World Premieres
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rizona Opera (AZO) elevates the transformative power of storytelling through music by presenting not only audience favorites, but world premiere commissions and little-known works that will become traditional masterpieces for generations to come. Arizona Opera, which will begin its 50th Anniversary Season this fall, produces fully-staged operas, concerts, and collaborative programs throughout the state of Arizona each year, and is among only a handful of companies in the U.S. that regularly performs in more than one city. Since its inaugural year in 1971, Arizona Opera has produced more than 200 fully-staged operas and concerts. The company’s artistic history is rich with a blend of traditional repertoire featuring baroque, bel canto, and verismo works, turn-of-the-century masterpieces, operettas, and American operas. Beyond the stage, Arizona Opera’s Arlyn M. Brewster OperaTunity program brings innovative arts programming to over 40,000 students annually across 120 schools in Arizona, 89% of which are Title I, with limited arts curriculum in place. During the pandemic, Arizona Opera
supported our educational partners as they adjusted to the reality of virtual teaching and created engaging programming for their students. As we move back into in-person educational programming, Arizona Opera is committed to bringing our high-quality and enriching learning opportunities back to schools for the 2021/22 academic year. “We’re committed to engaging, inspiring, and including people of all ages, backgrounds, and races on the stage as well as through our NextGen Initiative training programs, including our Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist and Production Apprentice programs, K-12 Education Programs, as well as our LOUD! (Living Opera, Understanding Diversity) and UnMic’d digital offerings,” stated Arizona Opera President and General Director, Joseph Specter. “These offerings reflect our commitment to adapting and innovating in new and exciting ways.” Arizona Opera’s pivot to digital offerings in the 2020/21 Season generated thousands of views across various media platforms, an advantage unbound by the geographic barriers that have defined our audiences in typical seasons. Through traditional works like Carmen, a timeless classic opera, and newer works like The Copper Queen and Riders of the Purple Sage, we’re reaching people of all backgrounds while honoring and expanding the opera art form. ON STAGE 2021–2022 |
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