Events: Arizona - Phoenix - Scottsdale

The 2019/20 Season will open with the McDougall RED Series on September 27-29 in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center, and on October 5 and 6 at the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson, withShining Brow (Composer Daron Hagen; Librettist Paul Muldoon), in a new “Taliesin West Version” of the opera, tailor-made for the McDougall RED Series by the composer.From 1903 to 1914, the early life of visionary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright was anything but conventional. Shining Brow, the translation of the Welsh “Taliesin,” was the name that Wright—playedby both John Moore (Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Glyndebourne) and Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artist Rob McGinness (Washington National Opera, PROTOTYPE Festival)—gave to his homesin Wisconsin and Arizona, and where his life took a unique and devastating turn. An affair with aclient’s wife, complicated relationships, murders, and a devastating fire at Taliesin drove Wright’spassion and determination to rebuild his life in this compelling and surprising tale. Composed by DaronHagen and set in a new production directed by Chas Rader-Shieber with sets and costumes by Jacob A.Climer, this production of Shining Brow will be created specially—both musically and dramatically—for Arizona Opera audiences. This new work will be conducted by Lidiya Yankovskaya, the MusicDirector of Chicago Opera Theater and the only woman to hold that title in a multimillion-dollar USopera company. Portraying Mamah Cheney, American soprano and former Marion Roose Pullin StudioArtist Laura Wilde (Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis) returns to theArizona Opera stage, praised by Opera News as having, “a ravishingly beautiful sound, [and] a finesense of style and character.” Edwin Cheney is played by Michael Adams (Grand Teatre del Liceu,Washington National Opera, Glimmerglass Festival), and the characters of Louis Sullivan, CatherineWright, and The Maid are played by Marion Roose Pullin Studio Artists Bille Bruley, Katherine Beckand Cadie Jordan, respectively.