The productions starred singers such as Greer Grimsley, Stephanie Blythe, Ewa Podles, Jane Eaglen, Richard Paul Fink, Margaret Jane Wray, and Stephen Milling. The 2013 production, conducted by Asher Fisch, was released as a commercial recording on compact disc and on iTunes. Armin Jordan returned to conduct in 2000, Franz Vote in 2001, and Robert Spano in 20. Director Stephen Wadsworth, Set Designer Thomas Lynch, Costume Designer Martin Pakledinaz, Lighting Designer Peter Kaczorowski created a production which became known as the "Green" Ring, inspired in part by the natural beauty of the Pacific Northwest. Jenkins engaged a new creative team to conceive Seattle Opera's third Ring production, which was unveiled in 2000 ( Das Rheingold and Die Walküre) and 2001 (full cycle) and returned in 2005, 2009, and 2013. Conductors included Armin Jordan ( Die Walküre in 1985), Manuel Rosenthal (1986), and Hermann Michael (1987, 1991, and 1995). Initially controversial, it sold out in 1995. The production set the action in a world of nineteenth-century theatricality. (Jenkins determined that the company could achieve higher quality performances by presenting the Ring every four years.) The new production was directed by Francois Rochaix, with sets and costumes designed by Robert Israel, lighting designed by Joan Sullivan, and supertitles (the first ever created for the Ring) by Sonya Friedman. Die Walküre appeared first, in 1985, followed by complete cycles in 1986, 1987, 1991, and 1995. Speight Jenkins was appointed General Director in 1983, and immediately set about creating a new Ring production. The performances were well attended and received good press.īy 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. Originally directed by George London with designer John Naccarato, later presentations were directed by Lincoln Clark between 19, and by the tenor, Ragnar Ulfung in 1984. 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. Two back-to-back cycles of the Ring, one each in German and English, were presented annually between 19. 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. "Ring 1," 1975–1984 īeginning 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. The Seattle Opera's last Ring was in August 2013, and they have stated that they have no plans to produce the Ring in the future. 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 in 1939. 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." Richard Wagner at Seattle Opera įor many years, the company was noted for its performances of the works of Richard Wagner, including the Ring cycle. It is in Seattle where you can look at the sky and find an airplane skywriting the virtues of Seattle Opera. 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. You have to be able to communicate, and you have to deliver your message with the best possible product you can manage." In 1970, H. "To sell opera…you have to get their attention with a little razzle-dazzle. From the outset, Ross saw opera as something that had to be sold using similar techniques to those used to sell popular entertainment.