Seattle Opera

Seattle Opera
Formation 1963
Founder Glynn Ross
Type Opera company
Headquarters 1020 John Street
Location
Coordinates 47°37′12″N 122°20′13″W / 47.620017°N 122.336811°W / 47.620017; -122.336811Coordinates: 47°37′12″N 122°20′13″W / 47.620017°N 122.336811°W / 47.620017; -122.336811
General Director
 Aidan Lang
Website seattleopera.org
The facade of Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, seen from Kreielsheimer Promenade, with the Space Needle in the background

Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross, who served as the company's first general director through 1983, Seattle Opera's season runs from August to late May, with five or six operas offered and with eight to ten performances each, often with double casts in major roles to allow for successive evening presentations.

The second general director of Seattle Opera was Speight Jenkins, who retired in 2014. He was replaced by Aidan Lang.

Since August 2003, the company has presented operas in the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, built on the site of the old Seattle Opera House at Seattle Center. The company does not have a full-time music director. In October 2007, Seattle Opera announced the appointment of Asher Fisch as the company's principal guest conductor.[1]

The Ross years

From the outset, Ross saw opera as something that had to be sold using similar techniques to those used to sell popular entertainment. "To sell opera…you have to get their attention with a little razzle-dazzle. You've got to be simpatico. You have to be able to communicate, and you have to deliver your message with the best possible product you can manage."[2] In 1970, H. C. Schonberg of the New York Times contrasted Seattle Opera's approach to marketing to the then still staid marketing of New York's Metropolitan Opera: "Out there, you see campaign buttons with the legend Opera Lives. It is in Seattle where you can look at the sky and find an airplane skywriting the virtues of Seattle Opera. There are even auto bumper stickers about opera." Further, Schonberg remarked favorably on the "air of freshness and experimentation that contrasts vividly with the dull, tried and true, tired professionalism in other opera houses one could mention."[2]

Richard Wagner at Seattle Opera

The company is noted for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner, including the Ring cycle. In 1975, it was the first American company to perform the cycle in its entirety over the space of a week since the Metropolitan Opera did it in 1939.

First Ring Cycles, 1975 to 1983

Beginning with a production of Die Walküre one year, and following successively each year with Siegfried and, finally, Götterdämmerung, Ross announced in 1975 that Das Rheingold would precede the others to make up the first consecutive Ring Cycle over six days in July. In spite of the modernization of the opera productions which Ross found at the Bayreuth Festival, Seattle's were to be traditional productions and appeal to the lovers of the traditional.

Two back-to-back cycles of the Ring, one each in German and English, were presented annually between 1975 and 1983. Andrew Porter's English adaptation which was prepared for the English National Opera and which was priced below the German language cycle, introduced many new listeners to Wagner. Originally directed by George London with designer John Naccarato, later presentations were directed by Lincoln Clark between 1976 and 1983, and by the tenor, Ragnar Ulfung in 1984. Henry Holt conducted all the cycles. The performances were well attended and received good press.

By 1982, the cycle was drawing opera lovers from all over the United States, as well as many other countries of the world, and Seattle appeared to be a serious rival to Bayreuth.

Ring Cycles today

Audiences for the 2001 Ring cycle came from 49 states and 19 countries, and the production was a sold out many months before opening. For the 2005 Cycle, Jane Eaglen returned to sing Brünnhilde; the director was Stephen Wadsworth, the set designer was Thomas Lynch and Robert Spano conducted. All performances of the Ring Cycle are now given in German.

In the summer of 2009, the Ring Cycle was performed three times with the most recent productions. Greer Grimsley appeared as Wotan, Janice Baird as Brünnhilde, and Stephanie Blythe as several characters including Fricka and the Valkyrie Waltraute.

Speight Jenkins and Wagner

After Jenkins was appointed general director in 1983, he believed in the future of the company's Ring Cycles and was eager to create a new Ring production. In addition, he stated a goal of producing all ten of the major Wagner works in Seattle and, beginning with Tannhäuser, Jenkins' goal was achieved over the following nineteen years with an August 2003 production of Parsifal.

Performers

Seattle Opera draws some of the world's best opera singers to its stage. Some of the notable performers who have appeared in productions include:

Conductors and directors

Seattle Opera often invites guest directors and conductors to take part in its productions. Notable conductors and directors include:

New operas

Seattle Opera supports the creation of new operas and has commissioned several works throughout its history. New operas performed by the company include:

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Matthew Westphal (16 October 2007). "Seattle Opera Appoints Asher Fisch Principal Guest Conductor". Playbill Arts. Retrieved 2007-10-18.
  2. 1 2 Quoted in Jones 1972, p. 254.
  3. ↑ "Diane Curry". Seattle Opera Performance Archives. Retrieved March 28, 2015.
  4. ↑ F. Paul Driscoll (October 2013). "Obituary: Geraldine Decker". Opera News 78 (4).
  5. ↑ List of productions on Christopher Alden's website

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Seattle Opera.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, February 26, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.