Edward Sooter made a great addition to our Ring cast at its fifth consecutive summer.
Explore the 1975/76 Der Rosenkavalier Program!
as told by composer Carlisle Floyd
Explore the 1977 Ring Program.
as told by Julian Patrick
A lively production of Rossini’s great comedy.
Hear Archie Drake in this thrilling American premiere.
Seattle Opera’s first-ever performance of Mozart’s intriguing comedy.
A huge cast assembled for Strauss’s great comedy.
with Glenn Ross in 1970
Joan Sutherland in a Massenet rarity—also starring the young James Morris!
Remarks from the award ceremony
Explore the 1976/77 Tosca Program!
A cast substitution with unexpected results.
Explore the 1978/79 Don Giovanni Program!
Beverly Sills sang Lucia in Seattle.
Erich Parce makes his Seattle Opera debut.
Explore the 1973/74 Siegfried Program!
Opera education and outreach, ’70s-style!
Cinderella comes to Seattle Opera for the first time.
Explore the 1970/71Madama Butterfly Program!
Explore the 1978/79 Norma Program!
Glynn Ross comissioned a new Pasatieri chamber opera for a church in Medina.
Explore the 1974/75 Manon Progarm!
Explore the 1979/80 Lucia di Lammermoor Program!
Explore the 1973/74 Rigoletto Program!
A favorite young composer of ours in the 1970s!
A fantastic cast brings Bizet’s stunning opera alive.
Johanna Meier and Alberto Remedios joined our cast this summer.
A precursor of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program.
Korean soprano Sung-Sook Lee was Seattle Opera’s second Butterfly.
Explore the 1977/78 Madama Butterfly Program!
Explore the 1976/77 Otello Program!
A multi-national cast brought Verdi’s tuneful melodrama to Seattle.
Explore the 1976/77 Of Mice and Men Program!
Explore the 1974/75 Mefistofele Program!
Explore the 1979 Ring Program!
Explore the 1977/78 Magic Flute Program!
Hear Archie Drake sing Gunther–in English!
Explore the 1978 Ring Program!
Explore the 1979/80 La Traviata Program!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s first Music and Education Director!
Mary Costa and Leo Goeke sang Massenet’s unfortunate lovers.
Explore the 1969/70 Turandot Program!
Our second production of Puccini’s perennially popular tragedy.
Hear the SIEGFRIED Riddle Scene–in English!
Fiorenza Cossotto stole the show with “O don fatale.”
Explore the 1975/76 Eugene Onegin Program!
An Aida featuring several RING singers.
This Sarajevo Opera production starred some of Yugoslavia’s greatest singers.
Explore the 1972/73 La Perichole Program!
Explore the 1971/72 Lucia di Lammermoor Program!
“Ride of the Valkyries” — sung in English!
Program for 1972/73 Manon Lescaut–the production that launched our Scenic Studios and Costume Shop.
Explore the 1979/80 Queen of Spades Program!
Explore the 1979/80 Faust Program!
Hear the bass who was with us from before the beginning.
Seattle Opera’s first Norma featured powerful singing from Cristina Deutekom.
Polish soprano Zdizislawa Donat was a memorable Lucia.
Anna Moffo’s Seattle Opera appearance!
The world’s first ‘rock opera’ was Bette Midler’s only Seattle Opera appearance!
Explore the 1973/74 Gianni Schicchi, Pagliacci Program!
The return of this great American work, first performed in Seattle in 1970.
Italian baritone Matteo Manuguerra shines in Seattle Opera’s second staging of Rigoletto.
Seattle Opera’s first production of Mozart’s great fairy-tale.
Glynn Ross begins introducing his favorite opera tetralogy to Seattle.
Explore the 1978/79 Carmen Program!
Wagner’s rollicking sea yarn came to Seattle with a famous cast.
Explore the 1973/74 Daughter of the Regiment Program!
World Premiere of a new Pasatieri opera!
Joan Sutherland wowed the opera-goers of Seattle in 1970 by singing all three ladies in “The Tales of Hoffmann.”
Seattle Opera’s first original commissioned work.
Explore the 1971/72 Black Widow Program!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s founding General Director!
Thomas Pasatieri’s opera based on the Checkov play.
Explore the 1978/79 La Boheme Program!
Explore the 1971/72 La Boheme Program!
A new Brünnhilde headlined our second complete cycle.
Explore the 1970/71 Don Carlo Program!
Hear Seattle’s first malevolent Lord of the Ring.
Our first production directed, designed, and built entirely in-house!
Nicola Ghiuselev sang the title role in Russian, and Giorgio Tozzi sang it in English!
Seattle Opera’s first production of Verdi’s comic Shakespearean masterpiece.
A sexy devil bewitched Seattle Opera in 1974.
Explore the 1975/76 The Seagull Program!
Explore the 1973/74 Cosi Fan Tutte Program!
A great star, but a compromised performance!
Klara Barlow was Seattle’s first necrophilic nymphomaniac princess.
Listen to excerpts from Seattle Opera’s English-language RINGS!
Explore the 1974/75 Gotterdammerung Program!
Explore the 1970/71 Carmen Program!
Explore the 1976 Ring Program!
Explore the 1970/71 Tales of Hoffmann Program!
Seattle Opera’s first production of Puccini’s beloved tragedy.
Explore the 1971/72 A Masked Ball Program!
Our only performance of this charming operetta.
The first time the world ended at Seattle Opera!
Hear the voice of Seattle’s original Ur-Mutter.
Mary Costa was an attractive Desdemona.
Featuring the meltingly honeyed voice of Leo Goeke in the title role.
Explore the 1979/80 Fidelio Program!
Explore the 1978/79 Macbeth Program!
Explore the 1971/72 Flying Dutchman Program!
Explore the 1972/73 Die Walküre Program!
Explore the 1970/71 Marriage of Figaro Program!
Explore the 1972/73 Faust Program!
Explore the 1974/75 Ring Program!
Starring Norman Treigle as the devil!
Explore the 1969/70 Salome Program!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s resident tenor in the ’70s!
A pioneer opera education program, which later became a model for programs nationwide.
Explore the 1969/70 Of Mice and Men Program!
Explore the 1976/77 Cinderella Program!
Explore the 1972/73 La Traviata Program!
Explore the 1977/78 Boris Godunov Program!
Hear the voice of Noel Tyl, one of our first Wotans.
Explore the 1977/78 The King of Lahore Program!
A second Ring opera is added to Seattle’s repertory.
Explore the 1976/77 Werther Program!
Explore the 1969/70 Force of Destiny Program!
Explore the 1975/76 Thais Program!
How Glynn Ross organized the two casts necessary for presenting opera in Seattle.
The first Ring performed complete within a week in the U.S. in a generation.
Explore the 1975/76 Aida Program!
Explore the 1974/75 Il Trovatore Program!
Explore the 1977/78 Falstaff Program!
Explore the program for our Summer 1981 Wagner festival, featuring the Ring and Tristan and Isolde.
Explore the 1969/70 Die Fledermaus Program!
Excerpt from The Journal of the Wagner Society of Northern California
Archie Drake’s first outing as Benoit/Alcindoro–a role he owned for decades at Seattle Opera.
Explore the 1974/75 Barber of Seville Program!
A 1978 production of Bizet’s thrilling opera.
Simon Estes was a strong Hagen, and Ute Vinzing joined our Ring for the first time as Brünnhilde.
350 schoolchildren starred in a Seattle Opera production in 1973!
Hear the mezzo who was Seattle’s original Queen of the Gods.
