Arizona Opera's 2015-16 Season to Include ARIZONA LADY, FALSTAFF & More

General Director Ryan Taylor has revealed the Arizona Opera's 2015-16 Season which opens in October 2015. The coming season will be an astounding collection of "firsts" for the company. Arizona Opera becomes the first North American Opera company to produce Emmerich Kálmán's Arizona Lady. The company also produces two other works never before seen in Arizona: Mexican composer Daniel Catán's Florencia en el Amazonas, and Giuseppe Verdi's riotous comedy Falstaff. Arizona Opera also presents productions of Bizet's Carmen and Mozart's Don Giovanni that are new to its statewide audiences.

The 2015-16 Season roster of singers, conductors and directors includes many new faces coming to Arizona to perform, with over twenty artists making their company debuts. Highlighting the season's casts are mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack as Carmen, who recently performed the role to great acclaim for Santa Fe Opera, and baritone Morgan Smith as Don Giovanni, known internationally for his portrayal of Mozart's infamous rogue and who recently appeared on the national PBS broadcast of Moby Dick as Starbuck.

Other notable debut artists include Metropolitan Opera sensations mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnson Cano, and tenor Andrew Stenson, who sing the roles of Donna Elvira and Don Ottavio, respectively, as well as soprano Karin Wolverton who starred in the recent national PBS broadcast of Silent Night.

On the podium, the company introduces Conductors Kathleen Kelly for the premiere of Arizona Lady, Joseph Mechavich for Florencia en el Amazonas and Eric Melear for Falstaff. Conductor Steven White returns for Don Giovanni while Arizona Opera Associate Conductor Keitaro Harada, fast-becoming one of the most talked-about young conductors in the U.S., takes the podium for Carmen.

"The overwhelming positive response to our Arizona Bold initiative this season with Cruzar la Cara de la Luna and Eugene Onegin, allowed us to uncover terrific new works and artists that we were able to program for this coming season. It has been rewarding to discover the depth of talent who have heard of the enthusiasm from the community and are eager to perform with us. Our artistic and production teams have taken particular joy in looking through the company's 44-year history, discovering titles that have never been presented before, engaging some of the brightest singers, designers and directors whose vision promises to showcase the relevance of incredible masterworks, and invigorate new audiences as well. I'm particularly proud for Arizona Opera to be the first U.S. opera company to present Emmerich Kálmán's Arizona Lady...who better than us to premiere this delightful work?" - General Director Ryan Taylor

All performances for the 2015-16 Arizona Opera Season will be held at Symphony Hall, 75 N. 2nd St. in Phoenix and at the Tucson Music Hall at 260 S. Church in Tucson.

Advance tickets are on sale now via season subscriptions with full packages consisting of all 5 operas and mini packages of 3 operas of your choice. Packages offer savings of up to 30% off regular ticket prices and are on sale at www.azopera.org or by calling 602-266-7464 (Phx) or (520)293-4336 (Tuc).

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