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