Arizona Opera Will Return to In-Person Performances With EL MILAGRO DEL RECUERDO (THE MIRACLE OF REMEMBERING)

Arizona Opera's President and General Director, Joseph Specter, officially announced the casting today for the organization's 2021/22 Season-its 50th Anniversary Season-which will feature an exciting and diverse programming schedule of five productions, including the release of the company's first world premiere film and four planned in-theater productions in both Phoenix and Tucson.

Check out the full season lineup below!

The Copper Queen Film

Clint Borzoni, Composer | John de los Santos, Librettist

To Be Released in October 2021 on Arizona Opera OnDemand (ondemand.azopera.org)

Arizona Opera's 2021/22 Season will open with the McDougall RED Series film premiere of The Copper Queen. The production, originally slated to be performed in-theatre, was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and then reimagined as the company's first film project.

The Copper Queen Film features Arizona Opera's first ever all-female director/conductor/designer team, helmed by Crystal Manich, and is being produced in association with Manley Films. It tells the dramatic story of Julia Lowell, a resident of The Copper Queen Hotel in Bisbee, Arizona in 1910, who was forced to live in captivity in service to the men of the town.

A century later, Addison Moore-a stranger to Bisbee-visits Room 315, the site of Julia's tragic death, where her ghost now famously roams. This riveting tale-told across the generations-is one of human bondage, furtive romance, secret connections, and ultimately-redemption.

"Clint and I are so excited to bring the premiere of The Copper Queen to opera audiences across the globe in this compelling new vision," stated John de los Santos, the opera's librettist.

Clint Borzoni, the composer of The Copper Queen, added, "I believe that the intimacy of the work lends itself well to film, since the piece is a dark and rich character study. Through the lyrical score and gripping plot, I'm confident audiences will be pulled into the haunted room along with the characters."

Crystal Manich, the film's director, said, "What originally drew me to The Copper Queen as an opera was the journey of two strong female characters in two distinct time periods in the same hotel room in the American west. The through-composed piece provided compelling challenges for stage." She added, "Pivoting the opera from stage to screen has been a fantastic opportunity to lean into styles of filmmaking that include drama, horror, and old westerns, all of which work to support the lush score and text that will keep audiences wanting to learn more about our heroines as the mystery of how their journeys coincide unfolds."

Arizona Opera has partnered with Phoenix-based Manley Films to bring the project to life, which is being filmed this spring for its much-anticipated online release in October.

El Milagro del Recuerdo (The Miracle of Remembering)

Production by Leonard Foglia | Javier Martínez, Composer | Leonard Foglia, Librettist
Phoenix - December 3-5, 2021 - Herberger Theater Center
Tucson - December 11-12, 2021 - Temple of Music and Art

A prequel to the sensational mariachi opera Cruzar la Cara de la Luna that was presented by Arizona Opera as part of its 2014/15 Season, El Milagro del Recuerdo brings audiences back to where the story of

all began: Michoacán, Mexico. Set during Christmas, the opera lovingly explores the themes of traditions and familial bonds while its characters deal with life-changing decisions and dream of something more.

Director and Librettist Leonard Foglia comments: "The piece deals with the basic issues surrounding the choices people have to make in life. It tells universal, human stories. How do we make decisions about what's important? I hope it resonates with everyone."

Main Stage Season

Arizona Opera's 50th Anniversary Season's three Main Stage Series productions will be presented in winter/spring 2022 at Symphony Hall in Phoenix and at the newly-renovated Tucson Music Hall.

Among the works to be featured are the return of one of the most popular operas in the entire canon, Bizet's Carmen, and Mozart's delightfully scandalous masterpiece, Così fan tutte. Rounding out the Main Stage Series will be a stylish production of A Little Night Music, Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Tony Award-winning theatrical classic, presented as part of the Marlu Allan and Scott Stallard Modern Masterworks Series.

Carmen

Georges Bizet, Composer | Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, Librettists
Phoenix - January 28-30, 2022 - Symphony Hall
Tucson - February 5-6, 2022 - Tucson Music Hall

The ultimate diva, the gypsy Carmen can ignite men's desires and fill their hearts with passion at a single glance. When Don José, a naïve soldier fighting in the Spanish Civil War, gets caught in her web, jealousy rages and anarchy reigns supreme.

The thrilling score by French composer Georges Bizet includes some of the most popular and recognizable music in all of opera, including The Habanera and The Toreador Song.

Stage Director Stephanie Havey says of this beloved masterpiece: "Carmen juxtaposes the facade of civilization and the mysterious forces of primitive desires. Carmen glorifies freedom above all else, challenging the norms that govern hearts and minds. I am looking forward to bringing this iconic opera and its disruptive heroine to life."

From its lighthearted beginnings to its tragic and destined climax, Carmen is not to be missed. Do so at your peril.

A Little Night Music

Stephen Sondheim, Music and Lyrics | Book by Hugh Wheeler
Phoenix - March 4-6, 2022 - Symphony Hall
Tucson - March 12-13, 2022 - Tucson Music Hall

Presented as part of the Marlu Allan and Scott Stallard Modern Masterworks Series, A Little Night Music is the Tony Award and Drama Desk-winning Best Musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Hugh Wheeler, with production and costume design by American fashion icon, Isaac Mizrahi.

Inspired by the Ingmar Bergman film, Smiles of a Summer Night, A Little Night Music focuses on a deliciously tangled web of affairs, all ripe with the possibility of new love and second chances. A comedy of manners with rapturous music, it is moving, witty, heartbreaking, and-most of all-a celebration of love. Among the songs in this groundbreaking theatrical piece is Send in the Clowns, one of the most recorded songs of all time.

Arizona Opera's production of A Little Night Music will feature the internationally acclaimed American soprano, Patricia Racette, and operatic star Paulo Szot, who won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for the Lincoln Center revival of South Pacific.

Così fan tutte

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer | Lorenzo Da Ponte, Librettist
Phoenix -April 8-10, 2022 - Symphony Hall
Tucson - April 16-17, 2022 - Tucson Music Hall

Arizona Opera's 50th Anniversary Main Stage Series concludes with an all new production of Mozart's Così fan tutte led by director E. Loren Meeker.

Così tells the story of two sisters who are falsely led to believe that their fiancés have been called to war. In truth, their lovers were only out to test their fidelity, so they return home-in disguise-to seek the truth.

Among the delightful cast of characters in this Mozart classic are Despina, the nosy maid, and Don Alfonso, a philosopher who is actually behind the scenes pulling the strings and making it all happen.

This season finale production will also celebrate the 15th Anniversary of the company's Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio, with former artists joining current program members under the baton of Karen Kamensek, who conducted the Metropolitan Opera's wildly successful production of Phillip Glass' Akhnaten in the 2019/20 Season.

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