The Phoenix Opera is a professional opera company located in 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...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 and is an affiliate member of OPERA America

Opera America

Opera America, officially OPERA America, is a service organization in North America promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera...

. The company was founded under the name the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera in 2006 by Artistic Director John Massaro

John Massaro

John Massaro is an American conductor, opera director, composer, and pianist. Massaro is the co-founder and current Artistic Director of the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera.-Career:...

 and Creative Director Gail Dubinbaum

Gail Dubinbaum

Gail Dubinbaum is an American operatic coloratura mezzo-soprano and co-founder and Creative Director of the Phoenix Metropolitan Opera.-Career:...

. Massaro and Dubinbaum are married and have both had highly successful musical careers, working with such prestigious companies as the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 among others. The 2007 inaugural season included only one fully staged opera, Puccini's La Bohème

La bohème

La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...

. In 2008/09, the company presented two fully staged productions: Verdi's Aida

Aida

Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...

and Puccini's Tosca

Tosca

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...

. In the 2009/10 season the company presented Carmen

Carmen

Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...

and Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...

conducted by Massaro. In the 2010/11 season the company will present The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute

The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....

and La Traviata

La traviata

La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...

. The company performs all of its productions at the Orpheum Theatre (Phoenix)

Orpheum Theatre (Phoenix)

The Orpheum Theatre is a small theatre in downtown Phoenix. This venue was originally used for vaudeville acts as part of the nationwide Orpheum Circuit.-History:...

. Notable artists to have sung with the company include soprano Marie Te Hapuku, Fabiana Bravo

Fabiana Bravo

Fabiana Bravo , is an acclaimed Argentine operatic soprano, who has achieved international success both through her interpretation of concert literature and in her powerful portrayals of operatic heroines.-Life and work:...

, Mauro Augustini and Donnie Ray Albert

Donnie Ray Albert

Donnie Ray Albert is an American operatic baritone who has had an active international career since 1976.-Life and career:...

.

External links

• Official Site of the Phoenix Opera
• La Bohème News Report (youtube
  YouTube
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