General Director Speight Jenkins believes that the cataclysm that concludes Götterdämmerung—the final moment the audience will experience after 16 hours of music—must be meaningful to the audience for the Ring to be meaningful at all. He tells his directors and designers, “You have to know where you’re going when you start.”

The same might be said of Speight’s 30 years at the helm of Seattle Opera. Even in his early years, when he was learning how to produce a Ring and run the company, one gets the sense that he has always known where he and Seattle Opera were going.

This 50^th Anniversary year offers an opportunity to celebrate Speight’s indelible contribution to the company. To join the 50^th Anniversary Concert and Speight Celebration on August 9, 2014, please call 206.389.7669 or e-mail rsvp@seattleopera.org.

Below are some highlights from Speight’s tenure:

2010—Premiere of Amelia, the first opera commissioned by Seattle Opera during Speight Jenkins’ tenure as General Director.

2007—Seattle Opera co-produced its first production with the Metropolitan Opera, Iphigenia in Tauris. The production, with sets and costumes built in Seattle, premiered in Seattle before traveling to New York.

2006—In August, Seattle Opera created the inaugural International Wagner Competition. Honored by ArtsFund with an “Outstanding Achievement in the Arts” award; Opera News listed Jenkins as one of the 25 “most powerful” names in American opera.

2001—Presented the new Wadsworth/Lynch/Pakledinaz/Kaczorowski Ring, conducted by Franz Vote, which has won a 2001 EDDY (Entertainment Design award) for the Ring design team and Seattle Opera’s Technical Department, Scenic Studios, and Costume Shop

1998—Seattle Opera presented a landmark new production of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, directed by Francesca Zambello and designed byAlison Chitty, with Ben Heppner and Jane Eaglen singing the roles for the first time in their careers. This year also marked the start of the Seattle Opera Young Artists Program.

1993—With glass artist Dale Chihuly designing the sets, presented a new production of Pélleas et Mélisande. Parts of these sets have been featured in the Smithsonian Institution and Seattle Art Museum retrospectives of Chihuly’s work.

1990—Produced Prokofiev’s War and Peace, heralded by the press as “the crown jewel of the 1990 Goodwill Games.” The production was the most complete version of the opera presented in America at that time. War and Peace featured artists from the Bolshoi and Kirov Theaters as well as American singers.

1989—Presented a new production of Wagner’s Meistersinger von Nurnberg, which included the Seattle Opera debut of Canadian tenor Ben Heppner singing his first Walther. Produced Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, directed by Stephen Wadsworth and choreographed by Mark Morris.

1986—Presented Seattle Opera’s second production of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen, the Israel/Rochaix/Sullivan production. Peter G Davis reported in New York Magazine: “The responsible impresario is Speight Jenkins…give him credit for making a brave dream come true.”

1983—Speight Jenkins is appointed the second General Director of Seattle Opera.

Show your appreciation for Speight with a gift to the Annual Fund in his honor. Make your donation here.