Arizona Daily Star
Arizona Opera made history Saturday night with "Riders of the Purple Sage," its first world premiere of its first ever commissioned opera. It now has a seat at the big-boys' table among companies three, four times its size in opera-friendly cities like Chicago and New York.
Companies the size of Arizona, which mounts productions in Tucson and Phoenix, don't normally put themselves on the shaky limb of "new works." It's a risky, expensive venture. But at the big boys table, taking a chance is the price of admission, and on Saturday night, with some 1,400 people in the audience, Arizona Opera took that challenge with "Riders of the Purple Sage" — and it paid off.