[ REVIEWS ]

The Arizona Opera Orchestra consistently receives excellent reviews from local media.

"...Arizona Opera is demonstrating its commitment to presenting operas that have broad audience appeal with world-class singing actors, a first rate orchestra, visually compelling sets...giving us an opera experience second to none."

--Governor Janet Napolitano, in her "Message from the Governor" for the 2007-2008 Arizona Opera season

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The orchestra ... played beautifully and provided near-perfect pacing.

-- Arizona Daily Star review of 'La Traviata, April 2008'

As a whole, "The Magic Flute," absent from Arizona Opera's repertoire for a dozen years, was a delightful evening of theater supported by a rich orchestral reading of Mozart's wonderful score. Conductor Joel Revzen took Mozart at his literal word, adopting a tempo that enhanced the comedy but never lost sight of the fact that the music was some of Mozart's finest ever. The orchestra's performance of the Overture was sublime and fluid, with such detail and crispness you wished it would have performed it again as an encore.

-- Arizona Daily Star review of 'The Magic Flute, February 2008'

"... a perfectly timed, crisp performance of the richly melodic score."

-- Arizona Daily Star review of 'Lucia di Lammermoor'

"While the singers all contributed to the success of the production, Donizetti's lush bel canto music, conducted tightly and with feeling by Steven White, was the real star of the show."

--Arizona Daily Star review of "Don Pasquale," January 2004

“...[the] orchestra played with lusty fervor...”

--Azproduction.com review of "Tosca," April 2003

"Support from the pit was likewise superb--finely balanced, idiomatically detailed and robustly played."

--Tucson Citizen review of "Die Fledermaus" (1998)

"While the cast's singers conquered its challenges, the same must be said of the pit, conducted by John Webber. Arizona Opera's musicians now comprise a solid, confident-sounding orchestra."

--Arizona Daily Star review of "Die Fledermaus" (1998)

"...under Joel Revzen's knowledgeable baton, the Arizona Opera Orchestra gave a remarkable testimony of its big-league stature and has never sounded more decisive, full-bodied or secure."

--April 2005, Arizona Republic

"The orchestra was every bit as important a player as the principals, and John Webber`s fluid conducting made every orchestral interlude as rich and meaningful as one could ask. This is a superb production!"

--Tucson Citizen review of "Tosca" (1998)

"And I live and die for the kind of `Te Deum` Arizona Opera`s choristers and conductor John Webber`s pit musicians summon. The singers` soaring and brass- accompanied unison line unison line, coupled with the thump of mighty orchestral climaxes, have seldom sounded so moving."

--Arizona Daily Star review of "Tosca" (1998)

"...conductor Cal Stewart Kellogg led an alert, musically eloquent pit."

--Arizona Daily Star review of Andrea Chenier

"The Arizona Opera Orchestra under [guest] conductor Steven White achieved a light and dainty touch coupled with a subtle firmness, all of which defines Viennese operetta."

--Tucson Citizen review of The Merry Widow

"...the overture, conducted and played accurately (a bit too accurately, perhaps) by the excellent [Arizona Opera] orchestra under maestro Gareth Morrell..."

--Dimitri Drobatschewsky, Special for The Republic, November 18, 2007, reviewing J. Strauss' 'Die Fledermaus'.

"The [Arizona Opera Orchestra]...plays in clean style heavily influenced by historic performance practice but without being hamstrung by it."

--Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, January 26, 2006 reviewing Handel's 'Semele'
 

"My cheeks hurt by the end of Arizona Opera's Italian Girl in Algiers. They hurt from laughing, and from an uninterrupted grin from the overture to the finale that tightened my face muscles in a rictus of pleasure."

--Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, February 23, 2006, reviewing Rossini's 'Italian Girl in Algiers'
 

"Arizona Opera's orchestra fulfilled the musical expectations one must have in a Wagnerian production..."

--Dimitri Drobatschewsky, Special for The Republic, March 24, 2006, reviewing Wagner's 'Flying Dutchman'
 

"[The production uses] the company's excellent orchestra..."

--Dimitri Drobatschewsky, Special for The Republic, October 12, 2006, reviewing Verdi's 'Macbeth'
 

"And the [Arizona Opera] orchestra...is as smooth and beautiful as you could want. Mozart's wind writing - always an excellence - is excellently played."

--Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, November 16, 2006, reviewing Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro'
 

"Moments of anguish and rapture are greeted by great orchestral swells; glimmers of hope are met with the soft plinks of strings."

--Chris Page, Get Out, January 26, 2007, reviewing Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'
 

"the [Arizona Opera] orchestra...was smooth, nuanced and well paced."

--Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, January 27, 2007, reviewing Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'
 

"In many ways, the music has as much a starring role as the characters. This is most evident in the lengthy orchestral prelude to the second scene of Act II...The music stirs, then subdues and the chorus hums. The music is soothing, then anxious; gentle string passages cast warm hues on the simple sets, announcing the dawn as effectively as the subdued stage lighting. The music makes you feel anxious and sad, nervous and neurotic — all the emotions Butterfly is experiencing in those tense hours knowing that Pinkerton is never coming back. The Arizona Opera orchestra, led by guest conductor Antony Walker, was worthy of Puccini's task and played with perfect pacing."

--Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star, February 2, 2007, reviewing Puccini's 'Madame Butterfly'
 

"Arizona Opera's Susannah opens with a prelude, beautifully played by the orchestra"

--Richard Nilsen, The Arizona Republic, April 21, 2007, reviewing Carlisle Floyd's 'Susannah'
 

"The music has subtle nods to bluegrass and broad strokes of mountain roots that make it accessible to casual audiences...[the Arizona Opera Orchestra] brought out every twangy nuance of its Southern accent."

-- Cathalena E. Burch, Arizona Daily Star, April 30, 2007, reviewing Carlisle Floyd's 'Susannah'