Speight learns to listen to young people at final dress rehearsals.
A new Siegfried added to the excitement of Seattle Opera’s most ambitious summer program yet.
One of our favorite baritones sings Alberich’s curse.
The great Viennese soprano’s only Seattle appearance!
Explore the 1995 Ring Program!
Our first RING in McCaw Hall–and Greer Grimsley’s first Wotan.
Explore the 1991 Ring Program!
Hear the great Canadian tenor sing one of his most gorgeous roles.
Three-minute complilation of footage from the final dress rehearsal of 2009’s DAS RHEINGOLD.
Hear the bass who was with us from before the beginning.
Speight remembers how Nuremberg came to Seattle.
The award-winning performance in the first opera in the renovated McCaw Hall.
Explore the 1989/90 Master-Singers of Nuremberg Program!
Explore the 1986 Ring Program!
Speight finds a new Siegfried–after the final dress rehearsal!
The first complete presentation of the imaginative Rochaix/Israel Ring 2.
Explore the 1974/75 Gotterdammerung Program!
Explore the 1974/75 Ring Program!
A minimalist new production directed by Peter Kazaras that was inspired in part from the Ambrose Bierce short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.”
Explore the program for our Summer 1981 Wagner festival, featuring the Ring and Tristan and Isolde.
This preview of our third RING production featured the first two operas in the cycle, presented in full one year later.
Explore the 1972/73 Die Walküre Program!
Explore the 2001 Ring Program!
It’s love at first sight (and hearing!) when Seattle Opera meets Richard Wagner.
Explore the 1985/86 Die Walküre Program!
Listen to a clip from Perry Lorenzo’s famous RING lectures!
Explore the 2004/05 Lohengrin Program!
Listen to the voice of Seattle’s reigning king of the gods.
Watch Video: Music with Maestro Asher Fisch
Speight remembers consecrating McCaw Hall with Wagner’s most Wagnerian opera.
The unforgettable opera that opened McCaw Hall!
The final cycle produced by Glynn Ross.
Revival of the 1994 production directed by Stephen Wadsworth.
Hear the mezzo who was Seattle’s original Queen of the Gods.
How the first go-around of “Ring 2” had some strengths and some weaknesses.
Explore the 2010/11 Tristan and Isolde Program!
Hear Archie Drake sing Gunther–in English!
Hear the voice of Seattle’s original Ur-Mutter.
Greer Grimsley’s first Wagner opera—complete with giant animatronic swan!
Explore the 1998/99 Tristan and Isolde Program!
Explore the 1984/85 Tannhäuser Program!
Explore the 1984 Ring Program!
Explore the 1977 Ring Program.
The last summer for Ring 1!
From the 2009 Ring cycle performances
Explore the 1976 Ring Program!
Hear the SIEGFRIED Riddle Scene–in English!
R. M. Campbell’s obituary recaps the remarkable career of Glynn Ross.
The final outing of Ring 2 was a great success, artistically—and financially!
A 1982 article about Glynn Ross and Seattle’s Ring.
Speight’s story of saving his first-ever RING from disaster.
Johanna Meier and Alberto Remedios joined our cast this summer.
Explore the 2005 Ring Program!
The once-controversial “Ring 2” finally earns complete acceptance.
Watch Director’s Talk Video with Peter Kazaras
A serenade gone hilariously wrong!
The “Green” Ring looked better than ever this summer.
Explore the 1980 Ring Program!
Edward Sooter made a great addition to our Ring cast at its fifth consecutive summer.
Explore the 2007/08 Flying Dutchman Program!
Watch clips from our imaginative second production of Wagner’s Ring.
From the book, “Classical Music in America”
“Ride of the Valkyries” — sung in English!
The Making of the Ring
Explore the 1983 Ring Program!
Explore the 1971/72 Flying Dutchman Program!
Hear Asher Fisch conduct the TRISTAN Prelude!
Speight remembers how the “Green” RING began its life.
Listen to excerpts from Seattle Opera’s English-language RINGS!
A cast substitution with unexpected results.
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s founding General Director!
Duesing implores the Evening Star to bear his love to the lady of his heart.
Speight finds a new Siegfried–with two days notice!
Explore the 1973/74 Siegfried Program!
A complete list of Wagner performances in Seattle.
The first time the world ended at Seattle Opera!
Explore the 1978 Ring Program!
Explore the 2003/04 Parsifal Program!
The moment when the difference between Speight Jenkins and Glynn Ross became apparent!
Speight: “A remarkably easy RING!”
Seattle Opera’s only production to date of Wagner’s sunny comedy.
Speight remembers how supertitles came to Seattle Opera.
The most familiar music from Wagner’s RING!
Pete Olds’ quick-thinking saves the day.
Wagner’s mighty epic performed for–and by!–kids all over Washington State.
Explore the 1980/81 Tristan and Isolde Program!
A game of musical chairs ensued when several Ring singers switched parts.
For Seattle Opera’s only production of this masterpiece, we projected titles above the stage for the first time.
Listen to Asher Fisch conduct overwhelming music from the first show in McCaw Hall!
Explore the 1982 Ring Program!
Glynn Ross begins introducing his favorite opera tetralogy to Seattle.
“Gloomy captain, go on land; seek a faithful woman’s hand! Another seven years rush by; another woman soon must die.”
Hear Seattle’s first malevolent Lord of the Ring.
Perhaps the wildest animal ever to appear on our stage…
Hear the winners of our International Wagner Competitions!
Wagner News: “An opera experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
RING 2 achieved widespread acceptance this summer, and the number of performances increased to three.
Hear the bass-baritone who often sang Wotan in Seattle in the ’80s.
By 1980, Seattle’s Ring was a well-known west coast cultural phenomenon.
Excerpt from The Journal of the Wagner Society of Northern California
Explore the 1988/89 Flying Dutchman Program!
The making of the Ring
Speight remembers when the “Shiite Wagnerites” demanded his head.
Explore the 2000/01 Das Rheingold, Die Walküre Program!
The first Wagner production at Seattle Opera!
Explore the 1979 Ring Program!
The orchestra mourns the death of a fallen hero.
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s resident tenor in the ’70s!
Wagner’s rollicking sea yarn came to Seattle with a famous cast.
Speight gets the swan just the way he likes it!
Simon Estes was a strong Hagen, and Ute Vinzing joined our Ring for the first time as Brünnhilde.
From 2009 Ring cycle performances.
Hear two of the great Wagner voices of our time, at the peak of their powers.
The first full performance of Seattle Opera’s beloved “Green” Ring.
Our first production of Wagner’s great song of love and death.
Explore the 2009 Ring Program!
Explore the 1994/95 Lohengrin Program!
From the 2009 Ring
Explore the 1987 Ring Program!
A second Ring opera is added to Seattle’s repertory.
Explore the 2013 Ring Program!
Part one of our series previewing 2009 RING Cycle focused on the artists involved and their rehearsal process.
Hear the voice of Seattle Opera’s first Music and Education Director!
The first Ring performed complete within a week in the U.S. in a generation.
Leonie Rysanek’s unforgettable Seattle appearance!
Speight’s dreams come true with a match made in operatic heaven.
Watch a Video Excerpt
Speight remembers his first great success with the RING.
Hear the voice of Noel Tyl, one of our first Wotans.
A new Brünnhilde headlined our second complete cycle.
