Season Begins With
The “Grandest of Grand Operas”:
Aida
With Gruber, Palombi, Blythe,
and Italian Conductor Frizza
Speight Jenkins’ 25th Season at Seattle Opera
Continues with
Return of Elektra and Pearl Fishers
Seattle Opera Premiere of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung
Mozart’s Most Popular Opera: Marriage of Figaro
Special Events in August 2008:
Second International Wagner Competition
Ben Heppner/Asher Fisch in Recital
Seattle—Seattle Opera opens its 2008/09 season in August with Verdi’s Aida, and two special events: a recital by renowned tenor Ben Heppner and Maestro Asher Fisch at the piano on August 14, 2008, and Seattle Opera’s second International Wagner Competition on August 16, 2008. The season continues with Richard Strauss’s Elektra in October and Bizet’s Pearl Fishers in January, followed by the Seattle Opera premiere of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung in February and March, and Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in May to conclude the season.
International opera stars Andrea Gruber, Antonello Palombi, and Stephanie Blythe return to Seattle for the company’s first Aida in sixteen years. Later in the season, William Burden returns as Nadir in Bizet’s melodic Pearl Fishers, John Relyea appears as the sinister Bluebeard, Susan Pierson solos in Erwartung, and Mariusz Kwiecien sings the role of Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro. Debuts this season include Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza for Aida, Seattle Opera’s 2009 Brünnhilde Janice Baird as Elektra, Mary Dunleavy as Leïla in The Pearl Fishers, mezzo-soprano Malgorzata Walewska as Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle, and Oren Gradus as Figaro and Twyla Robinson as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.
“We open the season with the grandest of all grand operas, Verdi’s Aida, with two talented casts, a great Italian conductor, and a brilliant director,” said Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera. “We continue with a season that has as much variety as any that I have planned. We have some exciting debuts, some favorite singers returning, great conductors and directors, in fact all the ingredients for the exciting musical and theatrical journey that people have come to expect from Seattle Opera.”
This is the 25th season that Jenkins has programmed for Seattle Opera. Since his appointment as General Director in 1983, Jenkins has become known for his ability to spot promising young singers early in their careers: famed tenor Ben Heppner made his role debuts as Tristan, Walther von Stolzing, and Andrea Chénier at Seattle Opera; renowned soprano Renee Fleming sang her first Rusalka in Seattle in 1990 (in a cast that included Heppner as the Prince and Susan Graham as the Kitchen Boy); and the last two Richard Tucker award winners Lawrence Brownlee and Brandon Jovanovitch were both members of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program. Under Jenkins’ direction, the company’s reputation for producing the operas of Richard Wagner earned it the nickname “Bayreuth of the West.” He has produced all ten of Wagner’s major operas—including two very different Der Ring des Nibelungen productions—which have been accompanied by seminars and symposia featuring leading opera scholars from the world over. Jenkins has an instinct for effectively pairing directors and designers to create visually stunning theatrical operas including the company’s first co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris in 2007 (directed and designed by the same team who created the company’s current award-winning Ring).
Season Opens with Aida and Two Special Events
Aida, set in Egypt at the time of the pharaohs, features sets by Tony-award winner Michael Yeargan (The Light in the Piazza), costumes by Peter J. Hall, stage direction by Met veteran Robin Guarino (Julius Caesar), ballet by Seattle-based choreographer Donald Byrd, and the Seattle Opera debut of Italian maestro Riccardo Frizza. American soprano Andrea Gruber sings the title role in Aida. Gruber made her triumphant Seattle Opera debut as the captive princess in 1992, and has gone on to become a leading interpreter of Verdi’s heroines. In the Opening Night cast, Italian tenor Antonello Palombi will sing the role of Radames, his debut role at La Scala last year. Also returning to Seattle Opera is American mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe as the Egyptian princess Amneris. American soprano Lisa Daltirus, Australian tenor Rosario La Spina, and American mezzo-soprano Luretta Bybee will sing Aida, Radames, and Amneris respectively on August 3, 8, 10, 15, and 22. Verdi’s Aida opens August 2 and runs through August 23, 2008.
During the run of Aida, two special events will be given in August by Seattle Opera: the 2008 International Wagner Competition and a recital featuring Asher Fisch and Ben Heppner. Heppner, who made his Seattle Opera debut as Walther von Stolzing in Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nürnberg in 1989, is well known to Seattle audiences for his roles as the Prince in Dvořák’s Rusalka, the title roles in Wagner’s Lohengrin and Giordano’s Andrea Chénier, and his role debut as Tristan in the 1998 production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Heppner performs regularly at the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Heppner and Fisch will be in Seattle for the International Wagner Competition. Heppner will be a judge and Fisch will conduct. Maestro Fisch was recently named Principal Guest Conductor for Seattle Opera. An accomplished pianist, Fisch will accompany Heppner for the August 14 recital.
On August 16, Seattle Opera will present the second International Wagner Competition. The company launched this competition in 2006 to identify and recognize qualified, emerging opera singers who demonstrate clear promise of an important career in the Wagnerian repertoire. This season, two finalists from the 2006 I.W.C. will make their Seattle Opera debuts: Carsten Wittmoser sings the role of Ramfis in Aida and Carolyn Betty sings the role of Chrysothemis in the Friday/Sunday performances of Elektra. Asher Fisch, who conducted the first I.W.C., was subsequently awarded Seattle Opera’s coveted Artist of the Year award.
Janice Baird (Brünnhilde in 2009) Debuts as Elektra
The Seattle Opera season continues October 18 to November 1, 2008, with a remount of the company’s production of Richard Strauss’s Elektra. Sophocles’ ancient tragedy is pushed to the extreme in this elemental drama. This powerful, striking opera features the company’s new Brünnhilde, Janice Baird, in the title role, Irmgard Vilsmaier as Chrysothemis, Rosalind Plowright as Klytemnestra, and Richard Margison as Aegisthus. Jayne Casselman makes her company debut as Elektra, Carolyn Betty makes her debut as Chrysothemis, and Luretta Bybee sings Klytemnestra on October 19, 26, and 31. Lawrence Renes conducts.
January and February: The Pearl Fishers and Premiere of Lepage’s Double Bill
Bizet’s melodic Pearl Fishers will be conducted by Seattle Symphony’s Gerard Schwarz in January. The Pearl Fishers marks the Seattle Opera debut of stage director Kay Walker Castaldo in a production that “sizzles with sensuality” (Philadelphia Inquirer). Also debuting with the company are sopranos Mary Dunleavy and Larissa Yudina in the role of the exotic priestess Leïla. Tenors William Burden and John Osborn play the role of Leïla’s love interest, Nadir, and baritones Christopher Feigum and David Adam Moore as Zurga, complete the triangle. The Pearl Fishers runs January 10 to 24, 2009.
From February 21 to March 7, 2009, a double bill of two one-act operas make their Seattle Opera premiere: Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung (Expectation). This award-winning production was created by Canadian theater artist Robert Lepage, who designed Cirque du Soleil’s KÀ and was recently selected to direct the Met’s new Ring cycle.
“For years I have been impressed with Lepage’s production of Bluebeard’s Castle and Erwartung, originally created for the Canadian Opera Company. In the twenty or so theaters in which it has appeared since, this production has always scored a major success,” said Jenkins.
Seattle Opera Artist of the Year recipient John Relyea performs the role of the brooding Duke Bluebeard. Polish mezzo-soprano Malgorzata Walewska makes her company debut as Judith, his overly curious wife. American soprano Susan Pierson will command the stage in the one-woman opera Erwartung. Conductor Vjekoslav Sutej returns to Seattle Opera to conduct both scintillating scores.
Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro in May
The season concludes with Peter Kazaras’s new production of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, running May 2 to 16, 2009. Kazaras originally conceived this production of Mozart’s beloved comedy for Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program. Refined and expanded for the Seattle Opera mainstage, this production reunites Kazaras with conductor Dean Williamson, who also conducted the Young Artists production in 2005. “The trick with Figaro is to have the right conductor and a director who knows how far to go and when to stop. I think we have both in Williamson and Kazaras,” said Jenkins.
The title role in The Marriage of Figaro will be shared by Oren Gradus and Nicolas Cavallier in their Seattle Opera debuts. Mariusz Kwiecien, the 2006/07 Seattle Opera Artist of the Year for Don Giovanni, returns here as Count Almaviva in the Opening Night cast, joined by Twyla Robinson making her local debut as the Countess.
Seattle Opera Ticket Information
5-Opera Renewal Subscription Ticket Prices: $185 to $3,346*
5-Opera New Subscription Ticket Prices: $197 to $3,346*
Seattle Opera Ticket Office: 206.389.7676/ 800.426.1619
Online Orders: www.seattleopera.org
All performances take place at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street
Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m., the matinees at 2:00 p.m.
*Prices include a $2 per ticket facility fee and (in some locations) a preferred seating donation. This $2 facility fee has been implemented in order to cover the capital costs of the opera house renovation that have not yet been funded.
For more information on individual productions and the artists, check Seattle Opera’s Web site: www.seattleopera.org