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