The Seattle Opera has received a $2.3 million loan under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), part of the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. The company said on Friday, April 24 that the loan will help the company rehire 180 workers that were laid off due to the Coronavirus crisis. The company also noted that 12 administrators who {…}
Seattle Opera has announced that starting on Saturday, April 25, 2020, it will start broadcasting past performances on Classical KING FM 98.1. The program, “Seattle Opera Mornings on King FM” will feature past performances from the company’s archives. All broadcasts will be available on the radio and at king.org starting every Saturday at 10 a.m. PT / 1 p.m. ET. {…}
(Credit: Gerard Collett) On the eastern side of the Cape of Good Hope, at the very tip of South Africa, sits Port Elizabeth, a city with a population just shy of one million people. The population size matters because it makes soprano Vuvu Mpofu one in a million, a ratio perhaps not unlike the shot she had at making it {…}
The Seattle Opera is set to perform Charlie Parker’s “Yardbird” Saturday March 7, 2020. The company, which is monitoring the developments of the coronavirus outbreak in the Pacific Northwest and globally, is currently set to perform the work as scheduled. In a public health announcement, the Seattle Opera stated that King County Public Health is recommending that people 60 and {…}
(Photo Credit: Sunny Martini / Seattle Opera) Seattle Opera’s production of Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin” has travelled around, being co-owned by regional opera companies in Kansas City, Honolulu, Detroit, Atlanta, and Seattle, with costumes rented from Santa Fe Opera. And while it was musically and emotionally rewarded, the mounting on January 11 was visually staid. Roads Not Taken For Tchaikovsky’s opera {…}
(Credit: Robert Workman) In 2016 a young dramatic soprano won the Zarzuela Division and Second Prize at the Operalia Competition launching her international career and making her one of the most promising dramatic sopranos of her generations. A year before that the soprano had won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions as well as the Gerda Lissner Foundation, and the {…}
The Seattle Opera has announces its 2020-21 season featuring an all-star lineup and some ambitious productions. Here is a look: The season opens with the double bill of “Cavalleria Rusticana” and “Pagliacci” with Gregory Kunde headlining both productions in a rare U.S. appearance. He will share the run with Arsen Soghomonyan. Melody Moore and Marcy Stonikas will share the role {…}
(Credit: Marty Sohl/Karen Almond-Metropolitan Opera/Ken Howard-Santa Fe Opera/ Gianfranco Rota-Donizetti Opera) We hope that the end of your 2019 is a prosperous one and that the start of 2020 is even better. As we look forward to the next calendar year, we are taking some time to reflect on the opera performances that defined 2019 for many of us. As {…}
You won’t find many repertory staples in this weekend’s top five choices, save for one exception. Otherwise, our recommendations feature two rare double bills and a plethora of new operas, including the first operas in Indigeneous languages of Cree and Sámi. Everest / Aleko – Chicago Opera Theater On Saturday and Sunday, the COT will present a unique double bill {…}
Let’s face it: operatic comedy is extremely hard to pull off. When was the last time you saw a comic opera production that was truly, authentically funny? Australian stage director Lindy Hume came about as close as one can to achieving this in Seattle in 2016 with her outlandish “Le Comte Ory” (retitled for marketing purposes as “The Wicked Adventures {…}
Christina Scheppelmann, the new Artistic Director of the Seattle Opera, has chimed in on the Plácido Domingo situation. According to Catalan newsite El Periódico, Scheppelmann worked closely with Domingo between 2001 and 2012 at the Washington National Opera when she was the company’s artistic director. “If any employee [in Washington] would have stated that Plácido was harassing her, action would {…}