Arizona Opera Opens 2015-16 Season with Premiere of ARIZONA LADY Tonight

Arizona Opera opens its 2015/16 Season as the first U.S. opera company to present the comic operetta Arizona Lady. The story revolves around leading lady Lona Farrell, whose hopes and dreams ride on the back of one horse, "Arizona Lady", winning the Kentucky Derby. Set on a historic ranch in Tucson and reminiscent of the greatest Golden-age Hollywood musical comedies, Arizona Lady is full of lively, upbeat music, cheerful, soaring arias and a wacky libretto, sure to make you smile as bright as the Arizona sun.

Arizona Lady is an operetta by Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán who fled Europe to escape Nazi persecution. In 1953, he wrote Arizona Lady as a love letter to the Southwest where he had sought refuge. Kálmán was one of numerous composers who escaped Europe and moved to the United States. Many of these composers landed in Hollywood where they began composing for the movie studios. Arizona Lady harks back to those classic films with grand scenery, screwball comedy and the big Hollywood sound we think of today.

Arizona Opera will be the first major U.S. opera house to perform Arizona Lady. The piece has recently received international attention as the Komische Oper Berlin presented a new production in December 2014.

Arizona Lady's cast is led by Angela Fout (Lona Farrell) whose "soaring spinto voice takes a high C easily, trills beautifully, and handles coloratura like a dream" (Post and Courier). Robert Orth, beloved by Arizona Opera audiences in 2013's H.M.S. Pinafore, returns as Sheriff Harry Sullivan and Octavio Moreno, who starred in last season's smash mariachi opera, Cruzar la Cara de la Luna, takes the role of rancher Lopez Ibañez.

Conductor Kathleen Kelly and Arizona Poet Laureate Alberto "Tito" Rios have created a brand new English, German and Spanish translation of the libretto, which was originally written by Alfred Grünwald and Gustav Beer.

Tickets for Arizona Lady start at $25. Tickets are available at azopera.org or by calling 602.266.7464 (Phoenix) or 520.293.4336 (Tucson). Tickets will also be on sale at the Arizona Opera Center Box Office at 1636 N. Central Ave., Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

A limited number of tickets for Student Night in Tucson (October 8) are available to schools and community groups. Click here for details and ticket reservation information.

Click here to hear sound clips from Arizona Lady. Click here for Conductor Kathleen Kelly's Essential Arizona Lady Playlist. Click here to download Arizona Lady Ringtones (for Android and iPhone).

IF YOU GO:

Arizona Lady

Music by Emmerich Kálmán

New English/German/Spanish translation by Kathleen Kelly and Alberto "Tito" Rios

Original libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Gustave Beer

Tucson Performance Information:

October 10, 7:30 p.m.

October 11, 2 p.m.

Tucson Music Hall

260 S. Church St., Tucson

Phoenix Performance Information:

October 16 & 17, 7:30 p.m.

October 18, 2 p.m.

Symphony Hall

75 N. 2nd St., Phoenix

Founded in 1971, Arizona Opera is our state's only professional opera company that produces fully-staged opera performances as well as in-school touring productions, and outreach programs to reach over 70,000 schoolchildren and adults annually. Since its inception, Arizona Opera has produced over 200 fully-staged operatic masterpieces and concerts including Richard Wagner's complete Ring Cycle; and in 2014 the company embarked on a new artistic initiative, "Arizona Bold" which incorporates new repertoire into each season, works that celebrate the rich cultural fabric that makes up our diverse state.