(Credit: Craig Smith)

Recognizing the current public health challenges due to COVID-19, Arizona Opera announced that it will be replacing its planned “in-theater” productions for the 2020-21 Season with alternative programs.

Arizona Opera’s 2020-21 Season is currently scheduled to begin on Friday, October 2 in Phoenix and on Sunday, October 4 in Tucson, with outdoor performances by members of Arizona Opera’s Marion Roose Pullin Opera Studio.

The details of the monthly Studio Spotlight Series in Phoenix and Tucson will be announced in the coming weeks and will include community locations that extend beyond the company’s traditional performance venues. Performances will spotlight unique musical themes. These performances will be streamed as well to enable audiences to watch from home.

In early 2021, the company will launch “Arizona Arias,” a series of outdoor concerts performed by leading opera singers alongside the Arizona Opera Orchestra. As with the Studio Spotlight Series, Arizona Arias will be recorded and made available for streaming online.

In addition to live and streamed performances through the Studio Spotlight Series and “Arizona Arias,” Arizona Opera will produce a motion picture adaptation of the company’s second world premiere commission, Borzoni and de los Santos’ opera “The Copper Queen.”

Arizona Opera will announce details of additional programming initiatives in the coming weeks. This will include pilot programs currently in development that are linked to the prize-winning entries for the company’s OnPitch Business Challenge, which concluded earlier this year.