James McCracken brought down the house!
Polish soprano Zdizislawa Donat was a memorable Lucia.
Explore the 1966/67 Turandot Program!
A starry production of Verdi’s great melodrama.
R. M. Campbell’s obituary recaps the remarkable career of Glynn Ross.
Our first production directed, designed, and built entirely in-house!
Explore the 1964/65 Boris Godunov Program!
By 1980, Seattle’s Ring was a well-known west coast cultural phenomenon.
Hear the SIEGFRIED Riddle Scene–in English!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s founding General Director!
Explore the 1964/65 Faust Program!
Hear the voice of Seattle’s original Ur-Mutter.
A 1978 production of Bizet’s thrilling opera.
Seattle Opera’s first-ever performance of Mozart’s intriguing comedy.
A pioneer opera education program, which later became a model for programs nationwide.
Hear Archie Drake in this thrilling American premiere.
Seattle Opera’s first original commissioned work.
A splendid production of Verdi’s masterpiece–complete with live horses!
Seattle Opera goes psychedelic!
Excerpt from The Journal of the Wagner Society of Northern California
Beverly Sills’ only Mimì!
Franco Corelli at Seattle Opera.
Explore the 1966/67 The Barber of Seville Program!
Nilsson as the Ice Princess.
Roberta Peters was Seattle Opera’s first Lucia.
The world’s first ‘rock opera’ was Bette Midler’s only Seattle Opera appearance!
Régine Crespin’s Seattle Opera appearance!
Listen to excerpts from Seattle Opera’s English-language RINGS!
Seattle’s first completely comic opera!
Johanna Meier and Alberto Remedios joined our cast this summer.
Our second production of Puccini’s perennially popular tragedy.
Explore the 1966/67 Lakme Program!
How Glynn Ross organized the two casts necessary for presenting opera in Seattle.
Seattle Opera’s only production of this tuneful comedy.
Opera education and outreach, ’70s-style!
A game of musical chairs ensued when several Ring singers switched parts.
Thomas Pasatieri’s opera based on the Checkov play.
Sir Geraint Evans returns!
A favorite young composer of ours in the 1970s!
A fantastic cast brings Bizet’s stunning opera alive.
Hear the bass who was with us from before the beginning.
Seattle Opera’s first Traviata wasn’t ours at all—it came from the Met.
Romanian soprano Mariana Nicolesco was a beautiful Violetta.
Explore the 1965/66 Il trovatore Program!
Hear Seattle’s first malevolent Lord of the Ring.
Starring Norman Treigle as the devil!
A multi-national cast brought Verdi’s tuneful melodrama to Seattle.
Fiorenza Cossotto stole the show with “O don fatale.”
Our only performance of this charming operetta.
Hear the mezzo who was Seattle’s original Queen of the Gods.
Remarks from the award ceremony
as told by Julian Patrick
Joan Sutherland’s Seattle debut!
A sexy devil bewitched Seattle Opera in 1974.
The fledgling company’s first production.
The final cycle produced by Glynn Ross.
The unforgettable Seattle debut of Franco Corelli!
The first time the world ended at Seattle Opera!
A Met tour of a beloved opera.
The first Seattle Opera appearance of the appealing Mary Costa.
Explore the 1969/70 Turandot Program!
Starring June Anderson as Rosina!
A cast substitution with unexpected results.
The Seattle Opera debut of Julian Patrick!
The return of this great American work, first performed in Seattle in 1970.
The first performance of Bizet’s classic tale in Seattle Opera history!
Edward Sooter made a great addition to our Ring cast at its fifth consecutive summer.
Glynn Ross’s third and final Turandot–a production worthy of an MGM Bible epic spectacular!
Cinderella comes to Seattle Opera for the first time.
with Glenn Ross in 1970
Explore the 1965/66 La Boheme Program!
Explore the 1965/66 Lohengrin Program!
Our first production of Wagner’s great song of love and death.
A lively production of Rossini’s great comedy.
A second Ring opera is added to Seattle’s repertory.
A new Brünnhilde headlined our second complete cycle.
Simon Estes was a strong Hagen, and Ute Vinzing joined our Ring for the first time as Brünnhilde.
Joan Sutherland wowed the opera-goers of Seattle in 1970 by singing all three ladies in “The Tales of Hoffmann.”
Seattle’s first French-language opera production!
The first contemporary opera presented by Seattle Opera.
Seattle Opera’s only production of Tchaikovsky’s Pushkin-inspired tragedy.
The first Wagner production at Seattle Opera!
Seattle Opera opens its doors with Rigoletto.
Listen to Corelli’s stunning “Ah, lève-toi soleil!”
A precursor of Seattle Opera’s Young Artists Program.
A huge cast assembled for Strauss’s great comedy.
Carol Neblett made her debut as Puccini’s coquette.
A new Siegfried added to the excitement of Seattle Opera’s most ambitious summer program yet.
Anna Moffo’s Seattle Opera appearance!
Jerome Hines sang his greatest role in Seattle.
as told by composer Carlisle Floyd
Sherrill Milnes’s Seattle Opera debut!
350 schoolchildren starred in a Seattle Opera production in 1973!
Archie Drake’s first outing as Benoit/Alcindoro–a role he owned for decades at Seattle Opera.
An Aida featuring several RING singers.
Hear an astonishing “Si, pel ciel” from a great American tenor!
Beverly Sills sang Lucia in Seattle.
Seattle Opera’s first production of Puccini’s beloved tragedy.
Seattle Opera’s first production of Mozart’s great fairy-tale.
Giovanni Martinelli’s one Seattle Opera appearance!
A great star, but a compromised performance!
Hear the voice of Noel Tyl, one of our first Wotans.
The first Ring performed complete within a week in the U.S. in a generation.
Italian baritone Matteo Manuguerra shines in Seattle Opera’s second staging of Rigoletto.
Korean soprano Sung-Sook Lee was Seattle Opera’s second Butterfly.
Dorothy Kirsten’s Seattle appearance.
Listen to Sutherland and Tourangeau sing the famous “Lakmé” Flower Duet!
Explore the 1965/66 Samson and Delilah Program!
Glynn Ross begins introducing his favorite opera tetralogy to Seattle.
Joan Sutherland in a Massenet rarity—also starring the young James Morris!
Explore the 1964/65 Rigoletto Program!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s resident tenor in the ’70s!
Joan Sutherland returned to Seattle as Donna Anna.
Hear Archie Drake sing Gunther–in English!
Starring Seattle Opera’s first African-American singer!
Starring husband-and-wife James McCracken & Sandra Warfield!
Seattle Opera’s first production of Verdi’s comic Shakespearean masterpiece.
as told by Hans Lehmann
Starring Kaaren Erickson as Susanna.
It’s love at first sight (and hearing!) when Seattle Opera meets Richard Wagner.
Wagner’s rollicking sea yarn came to Seattle with a famous cast.
Klara Barlow was Seattle’s first necrophilic nymphomaniac princess.
Explore the 1964/65 Lucia di Lammermoor Program!
A seductive production of Carmen that had it all.
“Ride of the Valkyries” — sung in English!
Jon Vickers as Britten’s tragic fisherman misfit.
A 1982 article about Glynn Ross and Seattle’s Ring.
World Premiere of a new Pasatieri opera!
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s first Music and Education Director!
The world’s favorite operetta, starring several popular television stars of the day.