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