Seattle Opera opens its 2008/09 season in August with Verdi's Aida, and two special events: a recital by renowned tenor Ben Heppner and Maestro Asher Fisch at the piano on August 14, 2008, and Seattle Opera's second International Wagner Competition on August 16, 2008.
The season continues with Richard Strauss's Elektra in October and Bizet's Pearl Fishers in January, followed by the Seattle Opera premiere of Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung in February and March, and Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in May to conclude the season.
"We open the season with the grandest of all grand operas, Verdi's Aida, with two talented casts, a great Italian conductor, and a brilliant director," said Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera.
Aida, set in Egypt at the time of the pharaohs, features sets by Tony-award winner Michael Yeargan (The Light in the Piazza), costumes by Peter J. Hall, stage direction by Met veteran Robin Guarino (Julius Caesar), ballet by Seattle-based choreographer Donald Byrd, and the Seattle Opera debut of Italian maestro Riccardo Frizza. American soprano Andrea Gruber sings the title role in Aida. Gruber made her triumphant Seattle Opera debut as the captive princess in 1992, and has gone on to become a leading interpreter of Verdi's heroines.
This is the 25th season that Jenkins has programmed for Seattle Opera. Since his appointment as General Director in 1983, Jenkins has become known for his ability to spot promising young singers early in their careers.
Under Jenkins' direction, the company's reputation for producing the operas of Richard Wagner earned it the nickname "Bayreuth of the West." He has produced all ten of Wagner's major operas -- including two very different Der Ring des Nibelungen productions -- which have been accompanied by seminars and symposia featuring leading opera scholars from the world over.
Jenkins said that this season will feature "as much variety as any that I have planned."
October 18 to November 1, 2008, with a remount of the company's production of Richard Strauss's Elektra. Sophocles' ancient tragedy is pushed to the extreme in this elemental drama.
Bizet's melodic Pearl Fishers will be conducted by Seattle Symphony's Gerard Schwarz in January. The Pearl Fishers marks the Seattle Opera debut of stage director Kay Walker Castaldo in a production that "sizzles with sensuality" (Philadelphia Inquirer).
From February 21 to March 7, 2009, a double bill of two one-act operas make their Seattle Opera premiere: Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle and Schoenberg's Erwartung (Expectation). This award-winning production was created by Canadian theater artist Robert Lepage, who designed Cirque du Soleil's KA and was recently selected to direct the Met's new Ring cycle.
"For years I have been impressed with Lepage's production of Bluebeard's Castle and Erwartung, originally created for the Canadian Opera Company. In the twenty or so theaters in which it has appeared since, this production has always scored a major success," said Jenkins.
The season concludes with Peter Kazaras's new production of Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, running May 2 to 16, 2009. Kazaras originally conceived this production of Mozart's beloved comedy for Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program. Refined and expanded for the Seattle Opera mainstage, this production reunites Kazaras with conductor Dean Williamson, who also conducted the Young Artists production in 2005.
"The trick with Figaro is to have the right conductor and a director who knows how far to go and when to stop. I think we have both in Williamson and Kazaras," said Jenkins.
During the run of Aida in August, two special events will be presented by Seattle Opera: the 2008 International Wagner Competition and a recital featuring Asher Fisch and Ben Heppner.
Heppner, who made his Seattle Opera debut as Walther von Stolzing in Wagner's Meistersinger von N�rnberg in 1989, is well known to Seattle audiences for his roles as the Prince in Dvor�k's Rusalka, the title roles in Wagner's Lohengrin and Giordano's Andrea Ch�nier, and his role debut as Tristan in the 1998 production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.
Heppner and Fisch will be in Seattle for the International Wagner Competition. Heppner will be a judge and Fisch will conduct. Maestro Fisch was recently named Principal Guest Conductor for Seattle Opera. An accomplished pianist, Fisch will accompany Heppner for the August 14 recital.
On August 16, Seattle Opera will present the second International Wagner Competition. The company launched this competition in 2006 to identify and recognize qualified, emerging opera singers who demonstrate clear promise of an important career in the Wagnerian repertoire. This season, two finalists from the 2006 I.W.C. will make their Seattle Opera debuts: Carsten Wittmoser sings the role of Ramfis in Aida and Carolyn Betty sings the role of Chrysothemis in the Friday/Sunday performances of Elektra. Asher Fisch, who conducted the first I.W.C., was subsequently awarded Seattle Opera's coveted Artist of the Year award.
International opera stars Andrea Gruber, Antonello Palombi, and Stephanie Blythe return to Seattle for the company's first Aida in sixteen years. Later in the season, William Burden returns as Nadir in Bizet's melodic Pearl Fishers, John Relyea appears as the sinister Bluebeard, Susan Pierson solos in Erwartung, and Mariusz Kwiecien sings the role of Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.
Debuts this season include Italian conductor Riccardo Frizza for Aida, Seattle Opera's 2009 Br�nnhilde Janice Baird as Elektra, Mary Dunleavy as Le�la in The Pearl Fishers, mezzo-soprano Malgorzata Walewska as Judith in Bluebeard's Castle, and Oren Gradus as Figaro and Twyla Robinson as Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro.
New and reneawal subscriptions can now be purchased. Five-opera renewal subscription prices range from $185 to $3,346. Cost for a new five-opera subscription is $197 to $3,346. Subscriptions can be purchased by phone at 206-389-7676 or 800-426-1619 or online at www.seattleopera.org.