1972 La Périchole

Our only performance of this charming operetta.

1972 Lucia di Lammermoor

Beverly Sills sang Lucia in Seattle.

1975 Der Rosenkavalier

A huge cast assembled for Strauss’s great comedy.

1966/67 Lakme Program

Explore the 1966/67 Lakme Program!

1969/70 Turandot Program

Explore the 1969/70 Turandot Program!

1974 Mefistofele

A sexy devil bewitched Seattle Opera in 1974.

1965/66 Il trovatore Program

Explore the 1965/66 Il trovatore Program!

Geraldine Decker as Erda

Hear the voice of Seattle’s original Ur-Mutter.

JOAN SUTHERLAND as Lakmé

Listen to Sutherland and Tourangeau sing the famous “Lakmé” Flower Duet!

1976 The Seagull

Thomas Pasatieri’s opera based on the Checkov play.

1967 La bohème (Met Tour)

A Met tour of a beloved opera.

THOMAS PASATIERI at SEATTLE OPERA

A favorite young composer of ours in the 1970s!

WILLIAM WILDERMANN as Hagen

Hear the bass who was with us from before the beginning.

1982 Abduction from the Seraglio

Seattle Opera’s only production of this tuneful comedy.

1966 Lohengrin

It’s love at first sight (and hearing!) when Seattle Opera meets Richard Wagner.

1966 Barber of Seville

Seattle’s first completely comic opera!

1973 Manon Lescaut

Our first production directed, designed, and built entirely in-house!

RING in English: Paul Crook as Mime and Raimund Herincx as Wotan

Hear the SIEGFRIED Riddle Scene–in English!

1981 Manon Lescaut

Carol Neblett made her debut as Puccini’s coquette.

1964/65 Faust Program

Explore the 1964/65 Faust Program!

1970 Salome

Klara Barlow was Seattle’s first necrophilic nymphomaniac princess.

1966/67 The Barber of Seville Program

Explore the 1966/67 The Barber of Seville Program!

1971 Tommy

The world’s first ‘rock opera’ was Bette Midler’s only Seattle Opera appearance!

1981 Turandot

Glynn Ross’s third and final Turandot–a production worthy of an MGM Bible epic spectacular!

1982 Barber of Seville

Starring June Anderson as Rosina!

1976 Of Mice and Men

The return of this great American work, first performed in Seattle in 1970.

“What Is This Thing Called Opera?”

Opera education and outreach, ’70s-style!

1978 Falstaff

Seattle Opera’s first production of Verdi’s comic Shakespearean masterpiece.

1978 Ring

Johanna Meier and Alberto Remedios joined our cast this summer.

1966 Madama Butterfly (Met Tour)

The Seattle Opera debut of Julian Patrick!

1965 La boheme

Beverly Sills’ only Mimì!

1970 Madama Butterfly

Seattle Opera’s first production of Puccini’s beloved tragedy.

1975 Il trovatore

A multi-national cast brought Verdi’s tuneful melodrama to Seattle.

JAMES McCRACKEN as Otello

Hear an astonishing “Si, pel ciel” from a great American tenor!

“His energy and ideas built Seattle Opera”

R. M. Campbell’s obituary recaps the remarkable career of Glynn Ross.

1977 La Cenerentola

Cinderella comes to Seattle Opera for the first time.

1974 Così fan tutte

Seattle Opera’s first-ever performance of Mozart’s intriguing comedy.

1976: Seattle Opera’s Early Valkyries

“Ride of the Valkyries” — sung in English!

1978 Magic Flute

Seattle Opera’s first production of Mozart’s great fairy-tale.

1969 Tosca

Dorothy Kirsten’s Seattle appearance.

1973 Rigoletto

Italian baritone Matteo Manuguerra shines in Seattle Opera’s second staging of Rigoletto.

1980 La traviata

Romanian soprano Mariana Nicolesco was a beautiful Violetta.

1966 – Wagner’s Seattle Opera Debut

The first Wagner production at Seattle Opera!

1971 La boheme

Our second production of Puccini’s perennially popular tragedy.

1966 Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci

Starring husband-and-wife James McCracken & Sandra Warfield!

1979 Ring

Edward Sooter made a great addition to our Ring cast at its fifth consecutive summer.

1975 Ring

The first Ring performed complete within a week in the U.S. in a generation.

1981 Tristan und Isolde

Our first production of Wagner’s great song of love and death.

1968 Andrea Chenier

Franco Corelli at Seattle Opera.

1967 Lakmé

Joan Sutherland’s Seattle debut!

1967 Turandot

Giovanni Martinelli’s one Seattle Opera appearance!

1964 Faust

Seattle’s first French-language opera production!

RING in English: Noel Tyl as Wotan

Hear the voice of Noel Tyl, one of our first Wotans.

1967 Romeo and Juliet

The unforgettable Seattle debut of Franco Corelli!

HENRY HOLT On Opera In English

Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s first Music and Education Director!

1965 Rigoletto

Seattle Opera opens its doors with Rigoletto.

1970: Of Mice and Men World Premiere

Hear Archie Drake in this thrilling American premiere.

1972 Black Widow

World Premiere of a new Pasatieri opera!

1965 Samson et Dalila

James McCracken brought down the house!

1964/65 Rigoletto Program Cover

Explore the 1964/65 Rigoletto Program!

RING in English: Archie Drake as Gunther and James McCray as Siegfried

Hear Archie Drake sing Gunther–in English!

GLYNN ROSS Welcomes You To The RING

Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s founding General Director!

1964/65 Lucia di Lammermoor Program

Explore the 1964/65 Lucia di Lammermoor Program!

1973 Daughter of the Regiment

Anna Moffo’s Seattle Opera appearance!

1972 Der Fliegende Holländer

Wagner’s rollicking sea yarn came to Seattle with a famous cast.

FRANCO CORELLI as Roméo

Listen to Corelli’s stunning “Ah, lève-toi soleil!”

1965/66 Samson and Delilah Program

Explore the 1965/66 Samson and Delilah Program!

The Cecilia Schultz Auditions

A precursor of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program.

1969 Turandot

Nilsson as the Ice Princess.

1974 Siegfried

A second Ring opera is added to Seattle’s repertory.

1968 Don Giovanni

Joan Sutherland returned to Seattle as Donna Anna.

National and International Casts

How Glynn Ross organized the two casts necessary for presenting opera in Seattle.

1969 Mantra

Seattle Opera goes psychedelic!

1972 Faust

Starring Norman Treigle as the devil!

1977 Madama Butterfly

Korean soprano Sung-Sook Lee was Seattle Opera’s second Butterfly.

1976 Aida

An Aida featuring several RING singers.

1966 Il trovatore

Sherrill Milnes’s Seattle Opera debut!

1982 Il trovatore

A starry production of Verdi’s great melodrama.

1975 Götterdämmerung

The first time the world ended at Seattle Opera!

1965/66 La Boheme Program

Explore the 1965/66 La Boheme Program!

1977 Ring

Simon Estes was a strong Hagen, and Ute Vinzing joined our Ring for the first time as Brünnhilde.

1970 Opera America Conceived

with Glenn Ross in 1970

1980 Aida

A splendid production of Verdi’s masterpiece–complete with live horses!

1964 Lucia di Lammermoor

Roberta Peters was Seattle Opera’s first Lucia.

MARVELLEE CARIAGA as Fricka

Hear the mezzo who was Seattle’s original Queen of the Gods.

DENNIS BAILEY as Froh

Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s resident tenor in the ’70s!

1983 Ring

The final cycle produced by Glynn Ross.

1983 Marriage of Figaro

Starring Kaaren Erickson as Susanna.

1977 Le roi de Lahore

Joan Sutherland in a Massenet rarity—also starring the young James Morris!

Glynn Ross Receives 1972 First Citizen Award

Remarks from the award ceremony

1969 The Elixir of Love

The first Seattle Opera appearance of the appealing Mary Costa.

1965/66 Lohengrin Program

Explore the 1965/66 Lohengrin Program!

Stravinsky’s Visit to Seattle Opera

as told by Hans Lehmann

“Seattle Opera took gamble on the grand scale to launch Wagner epic”

A 1982 article about Glynn Ross and Seattle’s Ring.

1968 Aida

Starring Seattle Opera’s first African-American singer!

1966/67 Turandot Program

Explore the 1966/67 Turandot Program!

1971 Carmen

A fantastic cast brings Bizet’s stunning opera alive.

1964 Tosca

The fledgling company’s first production.

1967 La traviata (Met Tour)

Seattle Opera’s first Traviata wasn’t ours at all—it came from the Met.

1965 Boris Godunov

Jerome Hines sang his greatest role in Seattle.

1967 Otello
1983 Peter Grimes

Jon Vickers as Britten’s tragic fisherman misfit.

1981 Ring

A new Siegfried added to the excitement of Seattle Opera’s most ambitious summer program yet.

1968 The Crucible

The first contemporary opera presented by Seattle Opera.

MALCOLM RIVERS as Alberich

Hear Seattle’s first malevolent Lord of the Ring.

1973 Noye’s Fludde

350 schoolchildren starred in a Seattle Opera production in 1973!

1964/65 Boris Godunov Program

Explore the 1964/65 Boris Godunov Program!

1978 Carmen

A 1978 production of Bizet’s thrilling opera.

1981 Don Pasquale

Sir Geraint Evans returns!

Opera By Children

A pioneer opera education program, which later became a model for programs nationwide.

1970 Les contes d’Hoffmann

Joan Sutherland wowed the opera-goers of Seattle in 1970 by singing all three ladies in “The Tales of Hoffmann.”

1964 Carmen

The first performance of Bizet’s classic tale in Seattle Opera history!

1971 Don Carlo

Fiorenza Cossotto stole the show with “O don fatale.”

1980 The Queen Of Spades

Seattle Opera’s only production of Tchaikovsky’s Pushkin-inspired tragedy.

1979 Don Giovanni

A great star, but a compromised performance!

THE RING in English

Listen to excerpts from Seattle Opera’s English-language RINGS!

1969 Der Rosenkavalier

Régine Crespin’s Seattle Opera appearance!

1976 Thaïs
1976 Ring

A new Brünnhilde headlined our second complete cycle.

Glynn Ross on Forging a Ring

Excerpt from The Journal of the Wagner Society of Northern California

1982 Carmen

A seductive production of Carmen that had it all.

1970 Of Mice and Men

Seattle Opera’s first original commissioned work.

Two Languages in the ’76 WALKÜRE Death-Announcement Scene

A cast substitution with unexpected results.

1980 RING

By 1980, Seattle’s Ring was a well-known west coast cultural phenomenon.

The Premiere: Of Mice and Men

as told by composer Carlisle Floyd

The Casting of George, Of Mice and Men

as told by Julian Patrick

1982 “Hollywood Die Fledermaus!”

The world’s favorite operetta, starring several popular television stars of the day.

1979 La boheme

Archie Drake’s first outing as Benoit/Alcindoro–a role he owned for decades at Seattle Opera.

1974 Barber of Seville

A lively production of Rossini’s great comedy.

1973 Die Walküre

Glynn Ross begins introducing his favorite opera tetralogy to Seattle.

1979 Lucia di Lammermoor

Polish soprano Zdizislawa Donat was a memorable Lucia.

1982 Ring

A game of musical chairs ensued when several Ring singers switched parts.