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