From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The facade of Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center, seen from Kreielsheimer Promenade, with the Space Needle in the background

The Seattle Opera is an opera company located in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1963 by Glynn Ross the company’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 company is directed by Speight Jenkins and, since August 2003, it has presented operas in the Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, built on the site of the old Seattle Opera House at the Seattle Center.

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.

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.

By 2001 audiences for the most successful Ring cycle to date came from 49 states and 19 countries, and was a sell 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.

Jenkins was appointed general director in 1983. He believed in the future of the company’s Ring Cycle 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.

List of important opera companies

• Seattle Opera official website homepage