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Arizona Opera

Sunday at noon, join Classical KNAU for Emmerich Kalman’s “Arizona Lady,”  the first in a series of broadcasts of recent performances by Arizona Opera.

Written in 1953 as a love letter to the Southwest, the hopes & dreams of leading lady Lona Farrell ride on the back of one horse, “Arizona Lady,” winning the Kentucky Derby. Reminiscent of the greatest Golden-age Hollywood musical comedies, Arizona Lady is full of lively, upbeat music, cheerful, soaring arias, and a wacky libretto, sure to make you smile as bright as the Arizona sun.

It is a story that almost never was: Kálmán, a prolific Jewish composer from Hungary, was forced to flee his home in Vienna in 1938 at the onset of Nazi occupation in Austria. He first immigrated to Paris before moving to California and New York, where he became enamored with American musical theater and western movies.

Kálmán eventually returned to Austria but died before the completion of his last work, "Arizona Lady." Its manuscript was completed by his son but was largely left untouched until members of Arizona Opera and conductor Kathleen Kelly revitalized it for audiences familiar with the Wild West — if not with the musician who made it.” 

Synopsis: http://www.azopera.org/performances/arizona-lady/synopsis

Performed in German, English and Spanish.

New English/Spanish translation by Kathleen Kelly and Alberto Rios

Original libretto by Alfred Grünwald and Gustave Beer