Arizona Opera
Encyclopedia
Arizona Opera is an opera
company which operates in both Phoenix
and Tucson, Arizona
.
Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini
's The Barber of Seville
, in 1972. By 1976 the company had expanded to include performances in both Tucson and Phoenix. Arizona Opera is headquartered in Phoenix and maintains an office in Tucson. The company has a subscriber base of approximately 10,000 drawn from the two metropolitan areas, and an annual expenditure of $6.2 million, according to the company's 2008 IRS Form 990
.
The appointment of Glynn Ross
as general director in 1983 initiated a period of growth during which the company expanded its season from three to five productions. In 1996 and 1998 the company gained notice by staging Wagner
's Ring Cycle
as a summer festival in Flagstaff, Arizona
. Ross retired in 1998 and was succeeded by David Speers, who increased spending on rehearsals, chorus, and orchestra in an effort to improve the quality of the company's productions. Under Speers' leadership subscriptions and single-ticket sales increased. In addition to the company's regular productions, Speers brought singers Samuel Ramey
, Kiri Te Kanawa
, Denyce Graves
, and Jerry Hadley
to Arizona for recital performances.
During the 2000-2001 season, the company appointed its first principal conductor, Cal Stewart Kellogg. Kellogg remained in that position through 2004, and is now director of the Symphony of the Southwest (formerly the Mesa Symphony).
David Speers left the company in 2003 and was succeeded by Joel Revzen, a Juilliard-trained musician, conductor, and music-organization administrator. Revzen continued Speers' practice of mixing standard repertory with productions of less-often-performed works, e.g., Menotti
's The Consul
, Brecht
and Weill
's The Threepenny Opera
, and Handel
's Semele
. Revzen was succeeded as general director by Scott Altman in 2009 but continues as the company's artistic director.
Arizona Opera offers five performances of each of its five productions per season, with three at Phoenix Symphony Hall (2,387 seats and the recipient of $18.5 million in renovations during 2004-05) and two at the Tucson Convention Center
Music Hall (2,177 seats).
(AGMA) since 1995. Union representation has resulted in improvements in chorus compensation and working conditions, and a concomitant improvement in the quality of new chorister candidates. The chorus master is Henri Venanzi.
The Arizona Opera Orchestra is composed of music professionals from three major cities in Arizona - Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff - and is affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians
(AFM). Like the chorus, union representation resulted in improvements in working conditions, including a collective bargaining agreement. In 1998 orchestra members formed the Arizona Opera Orchestra Musicians Association
(AZOOMA) to support the musicians and the company.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
company which operates in both Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
and Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
.
Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini was an Italian composer who wrote 39 operas as well as sacred music, chamber music, songs, and some instrumental and piano pieces...
's The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, in 1972. By 1976 the company had expanded to include performances in both Tucson and Phoenix. Arizona Opera is headquartered in Phoenix and maintains an office in Tucson. The company has a subscriber base of approximately 10,000 drawn from the two metropolitan areas, and an annual expenditure of $6.2 million, according to the company's 2008 IRS Form 990
IRS tax forms
IRS tax forms are used for taxpayers and tax-exempt organizations to report financial information to the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. They are used to report income, calculate taxes to be paid to the federal government of the United States, and disclose other information as...
.
The appointment of Glynn Ross
Glynn Ross
Glynn Ross was an American opera impresario. Ross was the first general director of the Seattle Opera, serving that company from 1963 to 1983, and the second general director of the Arizona Opera, from 1983 to 1998.-Background:He was born Glynn W...
as general director in 1983 initiated a period of growth during which the company expanded its season from three to five productions. In 1996 and 1998 the company gained notice by staging Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
as a summer festival in Flagstaff, Arizona
Flagstaff, Arizona
Flagstaff is a city located in northern Arizona, in the southwestern United States. In 2010, the city's population was 65,870. The population of the Metropolitan Statistical Area was at 134,421 in 2010. It is the county seat of Coconino County...
. Ross retired in 1998 and was succeeded by David Speers, who increased spending on rehearsals, chorus, and orchestra in an effort to improve the quality of the company's productions. Under Speers' leadership subscriptions and single-ticket sales increased. In addition to the company's regular productions, Speers brought singers Samuel Ramey
Samuel Ramey
Samuel Edward Ramey is an American operatic bass with a long, distinguished career.During his best years, he was greatly admired for his range and versatility, having possessed a sufficiently accomplished bel canto technique to enable him to sing the music of Handel, Mozart, Rossini, yet power...
, Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Te Kanawa
Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...
, Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves
Denyce Graves is an American mezzo-soprano opera singer.-Early life:Graves was born on March 7, 1964, to Charles Graves and Dorothy Graves-Kenner. She is the middle of three children and was raised by her mother on Galveston Street, S.W., in the Bellevue section of Washington...
, and Jerry Hadley
Jerry Hadley
Jerry Hadley was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa , Susannah , and Candide...
to Arizona for recital performances.
During the 2000-2001 season, the company appointed its first principal conductor, Cal Stewart Kellogg. Kellogg remained in that position through 2004, and is now director of the Symphony of the Southwest (formerly the Mesa Symphony).
David Speers left the company in 2003 and was succeeded by Joel Revzen, a Juilliard-trained musician, conductor, and music-organization administrator. Revzen continued Speers' practice of mixing standard repertory with productions of less-often-performed works, e.g., Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's The Consul
The Consul
The Consul is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera. Its first performance was on March 1, 1950, at the Shubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the lead heroine Magda Sorel, Gloria Lane as the secretary of the consulate,...
, Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
and Weill
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
's The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, and Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Semele
Semele (oratorio)
Semele is a 1743 opera in three acts by George Frideric Handel. It is based on the classical myth of Semele, mother of Dionysus.-Background:...
. Revzen was succeeded as general director by Scott Altman in 2009 but continues as the company's artistic director.
Arizona Opera offers five performances of each of its five productions per season, with three at Phoenix Symphony Hall (2,387 seats and the recipient of $18.5 million in renovations during 2004-05) and two at the Tucson Convention Center
Tucson Convention Center
The Tucson Convention Center , previously named the Tucson Community Center, is a large multi-purpose convention center located in downtown Tucson, Arizona...
Music Hall (2,177 seats).
Labor relations
The Arizona Opera Chorus is composed of professional singers from both Phoenix and Tucson. Choristers have been affiliated with the American Guild of Musical ArtistsAmerican Guild of Musical Artists
The American Guild of Musical Artists, AFL-CIO is the American labor union that represents 8,000 current and retired opera singers, ballet and other dancers, opera Directors, backstage production personnel at opera and dance companies, and figure skaters.-Jurisdiction:According to its website it...
(AGMA) since 1995. Union representation has resulted in improvements in chorus compensation and working conditions, and a concomitant improvement in the quality of new chorister candidates. The chorus master is Henri Venanzi.
The Arizona Opera Orchestra is composed of music professionals from three major cities in Arizona - Phoenix, Tucson, and Flagstaff - and is affiliated with the American Federation of Musicians
American Federation of Musicians
The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada is a labor union of professional musicians in the United States and Canada...
(AFM). Like the chorus, union representation resulted in improvements in working conditions, including a collective bargaining agreement. In 1998 orchestra members formed the Arizona Opera Orchestra Musicians Association
Arizona Opera Orchestra Musicians Association
Formed in the year 2000 to support its members, the Arizona Opera Orchestra Musicians Association is a diverse organization of highly-trained music professionals from the Arizona Opera Orchestra...
(AZOOMA) to support the musicians and the company.
General directors
- James P. Sullivan (1971–1983)
- Glynn RossGlynn RossGlynn Ross was an American opera impresario. Ross was the first general director of the Seattle Opera, serving that company from 1963 to 1983, and the second general director of the Arizona Opera, from 1983 to 1998.-Background:He was born Glynn W...
(1983–1998) - David Speers (1998–2003)
- Joel Revzen (2003–2009)
- Scott Altman (2009-)