Best Opera News
STAFF PICK: Arizona Opera has expanded the season to five operas and added a Sunday matinee. Looks like a good season coming up, as they finally complete the Wagner Ring cycle, which means we finally got through Der Ring des Nibelungen and can go back to real operas, the ones written by guys with vowels at the end of their names. Some of those are coming up this year: Verdi's Il Trovatore, October 13-15; Donizetti's Don Pasquale, February 16-18; and Puccini's Madame Butterfly, March 15-17. Also upcoming is Richard Strauss' Salome on November 9 and 11-12, and the Wagner offering is the front of the Ring, Das Rheingold on January 11 and 13-14. Note that on three occasions the usual Thursday night opener has been moved to Friday. Good season: three Italians out of five composers ain't bad.
