Arizona Opera Arizona Opera Arizona Opera is an opera company which operates in both Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. Arizona Opera was established in 1971 as the Tucson Opera Company, under founding general director James P. Sullivan, and presented its first production, of Rossini's "The Barber of Seville", in 1972. By 1976 the company had expanded to include performances in both Tucson and Phoenix. Arizona Opera is now permanently headquartered in Phoenix. The company has a subscriber base of approximately 10,000 drawn from the two metropolitan areas, and an annual expenditure of $5.8 million, according to the company's 2011 IRS Form 990. The
The Barber of Seville (play) Guilty Mother". Though the play was poorly received at first, Beaumarchais worked some fast editing of the script, turning it into a roaring success after three days. The play's title might be a pun on Tirso de Molina's earlier play "El Burlador de Sevilla" ("The Trickster of Seville"). Mozart wrote a set of 12 variations, K.354, on one of Baudron's songs, "". The story follows a traditional Commedia dell'arte structure, with many characters seemingly based on famous stock characters. The plot involves a Spanish count, called simply The Count although "Almaviva" appears as an additional name (whether it is a