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
Opera buffa opera seria deals with gods and ancient heroes and only occasionally contained comic scenes, "opera buffa" involves the predominant use of comic scenes, characters, and plot lines in a contemporary setting. The traditional model for opera seria had three acts, dealt with serious subjects in mythical settings, as stated above, and used high voices (both sopranos and castrati) for principal characters, often even for monarchs. In contrast, the model that generally held for "opera buffa" was having two acts (as, for example, "The Barber of Seville"), presenting comic scenes and situations as earlier stated and using the lower male voices