Ben Heppner won Artist of the Year in 1995/96 for his performance as Andrea Chenier. Heppner made his debut in 1989 as Walther von Stolzing in “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,” and he’s also sung the Prince in “Rusalka,” Lohengrin, and Tristan in Seattle. In his first act aria, “Un dì all’azzuro spazio,” the poet Chenier puts an arrogant young coquette in her place, condemning the heartless and frivolous life of the French aristocracy on the eve of the Revolution. Steven Mercurio conducts the orchestra of Seattle Opera.