Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Kristin Atwell Ford collaborated with Arizona Opera to bring Riders of the Purple Sage to the operatic stage. As an Emmy Award winning filmmaker, Kristin produced and wrote Fire & Water for Salt River Project, which recently aired on PBS/Channel Eight. Kristin co-produced and wrote, Protecting the Source, which also explores the relationship between fire, forest health, and water in the West and won the 2016 Emmy Award for Best Environmental Special.

In 2012, Kristin produced The Arizona Centennial Series hosted by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. In this nine-part television series some of Arizona’s most notable Governors, United States Senators, and Presidential Candidates sat down with Justice O’Connor to share their personal stories of Arizona’s first 100 years. Kristin co-directed and wrote the documentary, Theodore Roosevelt Dam: Arizona’s Living Legacy for Salt River Project. Narrated by Peter Coyote this film won the 2011 Emmy Award for Best Historical Documentary. 

Kristin takes her brand of visual storytelling to the commercial business world as the in-house producer for Quantum Leap Productions, a custom communications boutique in Scottsdale, Arizona. Along with a myriad of projects for Fortune 500 clients, Quantum Leap recently profiled Sempra U.S. Gas and Power’s Mesquite Solar One, Arizona’s largest utility-scale photovoltaic solar power plant.

In conjunction with the world premiere of Riders of the Purple Sage, Kristin Atwell Ford is currently producing a full-length documentary film, Riders of the Purple Sage: The Making of a Western Opera. The documentary travels from the untamed frontier that inspired Zane Grey’s iconic novel over a century ago to the intimate workings of the modern artistic process behind this new American opera. Filming will culminate with the opening night of Arizona Opera’s first world premiere and the documentary will be released in early 2018.