• Arizona Opera
• Flower Duet

The opera comes to Tucson this weekend. Arizona Opera describes in a press release:

Arizona Opera’s production of “Madama Butterfly” features sopranos Shu-Ying Li and Jill Gardner sharing the title role of the trusting geisha abandoned by her American naval officer husband. One of the most challenging parts in the opera repertoire, Butterfly or Cio-Cio San is on stage for nearly the entire opera’s duration and sings some of Puccini’s greatest and most emotive music, including the popular aria “Un bel dì.”

Matthew Erikson, the public relations manager with Arizona Opera, describes the storyline as follows:

The basic storyline is that ugly American military officer abandons trusting geisha. Even after a 3-year absence, Butterfly (Cio-Cio-San) faithfully awaits the return of her beloved Pinkerton, holding onto her dreams of passionate love and their child, whom she has named Sorrow. When at last he arrives, Butterfly discovers he has married someone else. Her heart shattered, she must find a way to soar above disgrace and restore her honor. With sets that evoke a Nagasaki village, the Arizona Opera production includes one of the most sought-after interpreters of “Madama Butterfly,” Chinese soprano Shu-Ying Li.

When:
February 4, 7:30 p.m. and
February 5, 2 p.m.
Where:
Tucson Music Hall

For tickets, call the Arizona Opera Box Office at 520-293-4336 or visit Ticketmaster.
For more information, visit the Arizona Opera website.

Below the cut, a video preview of the show from Arizona Opera:

• Courtney L’Ecuyer
• Eric Firestone, a New York gallery owner and exhibit curator, was the mastermind behind The Boneyard Project. The former Tucson resident stands by a plane spray-painted by Retna, a popular LA graffiti artist.

By Courtney L'Ecuyer

Eric Firestone paced back and forth between each painted bird and inspected their position. He wore a tattered blue jean button-down shirt, with a plaid tie and green Converse sneakers. He could have easily been mistaken for a janitor, when in fact he’s been in the art gallery business since age 22.

Firestone, 40, is the mastermind behind The Boneyard Project: Return Trip, an exhibit that debuted Saturday, January 28, 2012 at The Pima Air and Space Museum.

"Triple T, 7:50 pm, 2011," by Jeff Smith, is on exhibit in Jeff Smith: Drivescapes through Feb. 21 at the Temple Gallery in the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. The show will have an opening reception from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 20.

While it might seem a little early to you, putting together our Spring Arts Preview is serious business. As you read this, Calendar Girl (as editor Jimmy Boegle puts it, "her term, not mine") Linda Ray is working hard to put together our comprehensive guide to what's happening between January 15th through the summer in galleries, museums, on stages and everywhere else artsy. However, inevitably once the issue hits the stands, someone will complain that they weren't included, so this is your warning. We have to have the information to include it in this issue, and we'd love your help in getting all that information together in one place.

If you are an artist, someone affiliated with art, or know someone with some sort of art thing going on in Tucson during the first half of 2012, please let us know what's happening. We don't even need an actual press release. You don't even have to use complete sentences! Send us the start date, end date, hours or show times, ticket or admission prices and, of course, the titles of your events to [email protected], and we'll get it out to Tucson. Thanks.

I attended a few of the Arizona Opera's performances last year—mostly to appease my wife, who has dubious taste in men, but high class in culture—but I think I'm actually a fan now. The performances are dramatic and interesting, the staging is cool, I actually enjoy the music, and I get to rise above my reality-show-fan self for a bit. Arizona Opera makes a preview video for each of their shows, giving some insight into the opera itself and what goes into putting on the show itself, so here's the one for Faust, which you can Saturday night or Sunday afternoon at the Music Hall.

If you missed last night's opening performance of Scarlet Pimpernel at Leo Rich Theatre (260 S. Church Ave.), you are in luck. The show, performed by Desert Christian High School students, continues tonight and tomorrow evening at 7:30 p.m. There are matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m.

Deemed "Broadway's Most Intriguing Musical," the show "tells an intriguing tale of blood lust, heroism, and feats of derring-do, but above all, The Scarlet Pimpernel is a love story—passionate and moving, yet also humorous and inspiring," says Desert Christian musical director Cathy Simon.

Tickets are $20 to $25 online at www.desertchristian.org. Here's more info from a press release:

With more than 100 cast and crew members required to mount a full production of the ‘Scarlet Pimpernel,’ Desert Christian High School, whose student body numbers less than 200, has its work cut out for it. However, like the show’s hero at the battlefront, fearless musical director Cathy Simon, forges ahead undaunted, “To commemorate Desert Christian’s twenty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to present something sensational, something original and, as always, something challenging to the students. We are thrilled to be to be the first organization in Tucson to produce this wonderful Tony Award-nominated musical.”

'The Scarlet Pimpernel' is a riveting action adventure set during the French Revolution’s infamous ‘Reign of Terror.’ Frank Wildhorn and Nan Knighton's musical adaptation of Duchess Orszy's classic story features a cast of unforgettable characters, particularly the title’s hero, which introduced modern-day audiences to the concept of “the masked crusader." A captivating musical score, elaborate costumes, and multiple sets transport audiences back to the 18th century, from the fashionable courts of England to the grisly guillotine of war torn France.

Anything even adjacent to the Powhaus universe is a pretty good time, so the party at Plush tomorrow night launching The Destroyer, "an international online magazine of text, art, and public opinion", should be something worth checking out. Where else can you get a tarot card reading and dance to music from Tucson Weekly-approved DJs Jaime J and Andrew Shuta on a weekend night?

More info below the cut.

• Josh Morgan
• Miguel Folch, a veteran Pararescue Jumper, sits in front of strobe spotlights at a photo studio in the Lost Bario in Tucson, Ariz. as he waits for his model to change her wardrobe. Folch finds solice in photography and chose to pursue his passion to escape the stresses associated with being a Tucson firefighter that would often trigger his PTSD.

Miguel Folch, 40, was a Tucson paramedic, firefighter and fashion photographer. He's a veteran of the U.S. Air Force Air Combat Command operatives, also known as the "pararescue jumpers."

And he suffers from combat post-traumatic stress disorder.

• Tom Walbank

Tucson musicians, including Howe Gelb, Al Perry, Gabriel Sullivan, Chris Black, Dimitri Manos, Emilie Marchand and Tom Walbank, are displaying artwork as part of the Vinyl to Canvas exhibition through Dec. 23 in the lobby and adjacent conference room of the Pioneer Building, 100 N. Stone Ave. A special reception from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12 will feature musical performances by the artists.

For more information visit http://www.tucsonpimaartscouncil.org.

Here is a stunning video project on a National Geographic photographer covering the climbing culture at Yosemite National Park. The project is by Renan Ozturk.

Simply an amazing and beautiful piece.