Press Kit - Seattle Opera

Wagner at Seattle Opera 

Press Kit 

“In Seattle, Glynn Ross audaciously resolved to mount Wagner’s 

Ring of the Nibelung every summer in both German and English, 

starting in 1975. Speight Jenkins, who took over the Seattle Opera 

in 1983, is an equally zealous Wagnerite (the office closes for 

Wagner’s birthday) who insisted on world- class music and 

production values. This meant relinquishing Ross’s annual Ring in 

favor of more-varied summer repertoire keying on fresh 

productions of Lohengrin, the Ring, Tristan, Die Meistersinger, 

and Parsifal. Seattle’s 1986 Ring, directed by Francois Rochaix 

and designed by Robert Israel, remains the only North American 

version with the intellectual panache of Patrice Chereau’s 

landmark Bayreuth Ring of 1976. Seattle’s 2001 Ring, directed by 

Stephen Wadsworth, was hyperrealistic yet psychologically astute. 

Both productions were cast not according to glamorous past 

exposure but actual competence shrewdly assessed; both were 

complemented by first-rate Wagner lectures and (an amenity 

unknown at Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall) a serious bookstore. 

The one Ring secured and the other consolidated Seattle’s status as 

the leading North American Wagner house.” 

Joseph Horowitz 

Classical Music in America

Seattle Opera Public Programs and Media Department 

Jonathan Dean 

Director of Public Programs and Media 

206.676.5543 

jonathan.dean@seattleopera.org 

Tamara Vallejos 

Public Programs and Media Associate 

206.676.5559 

tamara.vallejos@seattleopera.org 

For visuals (digital photographs or video): 

Monte Jacobson 

Public Relations Coordinator 

206.676.5545 

monte.jacobson@seattleopera.org 

Press releases and other information also available at: 

http://www.seattleopera.org/news

Five Decades of Wagner in Seattle: 1966-2013 

1966 Lohengrin (2 performances) 

1972 Der Fliegende Holländer (5 performances) 

1973 RING 1 INTRODUCED: Die Walkiire (5 performances) 

1974 Siegfried (6 performances) 

1975 Götterdämmerung (6 performances) 

1975 Der Ring des Nibelungen (1 cycle in German, 1 in English) 






1981 Tristan and Isolde (6 performances) 

1981 Pacific Northwest Wagner Festival: 

Der Ring des Nibelungen (1 cycle in German, 1 in English) 

Tristan und Isolde (1 performance) 



1984 Der Ring des Nibelungen (1 cycle in German) 

1984 Tannhäuser (5 performances; SUPERTITLES INTRODUCED) 

1985 RING 2 INTRODUCED: Die Walküre (3 performances) 

1986 Der Ring des Nibelungen (2 cycles in German with supertitles) 

1987 Der Ring des Nibelungen (2 cycles) 


1989 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (7 performances) 




1998 Tristan und Isolde (10 performances) 

2000 Das Rheingold (3 performances) and Die Walküre (7 performances) 


2003 Parsifal (9 performances) 



2006 International Wagner Competition 


2008 International Wagner Competition 


2010 Tristan und Isolde (7 performances) 

2013 Der Ring des Nibelungen (3 cycles)

Wagner at Seattle Opera 

From Glynn Ross's first production of Wagner's Lohengrin in 1966 to Speight Jenkins' 

presentations of all ten of Wagner's major works, Seattle Opera’s continued emphasis on the 

music dramas of Richard Wagner is a key component of our mission and has made Seattle a 

can’t-miss destination for Wagnerians around the world. 

Why are the works of Richard Wagner so important to Seattle Opera? In the early 1970s, the 

founder of the company, Glynn Ross, who loved the operas of the German composer, realized 

that in the United States over the previous twenty years there had been less Wagner performed 

and that the mammoth work of the composer, Der Ring des Nibelungen, was receiving far fewer 

performances than it had since its introduction to the United States in the 1880s. At that time, 

only one major company, the Metropolitan Opera, had part of a Ring production, and because of 

complicated problems, the final opera of the cycle, Götterdämmerung, had not yet been 

completed. San Francisco and Chicago, both of which companies that had produced the Ring in 

the past, seemed to have no plans now for producing the cycle, and no other opera company in 

America was contemplating its production. Due to the apparent dislike of Wagner by the 

Metropolitan’s General Manager, Rudolf Bing, who was about to retire, the company had 

produced far few Wagner operas than in the past, and this was at a time when one of the greatest 

Wagnerian sopranos of the twentieth century, Birgit Nilsson, was at the height of her personal 

popularity and critical acclaim. 

With all this happening in other opera companies, Ross looked around him in Seattle and saw a 

terrain that to him that suggested the Alpine reaches of Bavaria with our lakes and evergreens. 

He also believed that the audience in Seattle, up to then exposed only either to touring Wagner 

productions or to two of the earlier Romantic operas by Ross’s less-than-a-decade-old Seattle 

Opera, would take to the Ring. Ross had spent the summers of 1953 and 1954 working at the 

Bayreuth Festival. And, clever entrepreneur that he was, he perceived that since the Bayreuth 

staging revolution of 1950, created by the two grandsons of the composer, Wieland and 

Wolfgang Wagner, all productions of the Ring were eschewing the rocks and mountain scenes 

associated with Wagner’s own Ring in 1876 as well as the stage directions in his librettos. Ross 

reasoned that if he could create a Ring evoking the memory of the past, many from all over the 

country and, conceivably, the world would come. 

That year was so successful that Ross convinced the Seattle Opera Board that the Ring should be 

repeated, and the audiences and press came from even farther away. Soon the annual summer 

cycles of the Ring (one in German, one in English) became a tradition and were repeated every 

year. In 1980, Ross presented a new production of Tristan und Isolde. In the summer of 1981, he 

presented a performance of that work between the two cycles of the Ring. 

The repetition established Seattle Opera worldwide as a Ring center. It also inculcated into the 

Seattle Opera public a liking for Wagner’s works and a familiarity with them that is probably 

still greater per capita than in any city outside Germany.

Speight Jenkins was appointed general director of the company in 1983. A lawyer and by trade a 

journalist, Jenkins had previously worked as a music critic, a radio and TV commentator, and a 

speaker on opera. One characteristic might have increased his appeal to the Board’s search 

committee: he was an ardent Wagnerian who believed in the future of the Seattle Ring and was 

eager to create a new Ring production for Seattle. The Ring was not the limit of his desire for 

Wagner at Seattle Opera. Shortly after his appointment, he said that he wanted to produce all ten 

of the standard canon of Wagner’s works at Seattle Opera, and he proposed to begin in the first 

season he planned with Tannhäuser. 

In the ensuing twenty-five years, Jenkins has done what he promised to do. In August of 2003, a 

new production of Parsifal completed the canon, enlarged as it has been by the creation of two 

complete Rings, two Tristan und Isoldes, and multiple productions of Der Fliegende Holländer 

and Lohengrin. Over these years, the company has enhanced its reputation for Wagner 

productions, productions created in a variety of styles and with many of the greatest singers of 

Wagner. The company is now held to the highest possible standard by the world press. 

Audiences come to Wagner performances from all 50 states and as many as 20 foreign countries. 

The non-Ring operas as well as the Ring attract interested audiences, and local support for 

Wagner has grown exponentially over the years. 

The Ring cycles in 2001 and 2005 Ring were completely sold out before the opening, and ticket 

sales for the 2009 Ring were strong. Other summer productions of Wagner, presented as parts of 

Seattle Opera’s subscription season, are always well attended, and the company's International 

Wagner Competition, inaugurated in 2006 and held again in 2008, received an enthusiastic 

response from its audience.

Review Quotes of Wagner Productions 

Ring 1 (1972-1984) 

Few companies outside of Bayreuth have performed Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen regularly in 

its entirety, but under founding General Director Glynn Ross, Seattle Opera performed it every 

summer from 1975 through 1984. Under Ross, Seattle Opera presented the Ring in German and 

English in back-to-back cycles (1975-1983). In the days before supratitles, Andrew Porter's 

English adaptation introduced many Wagner neophytes to the complexity of the libretto. 

To judge by their writing, many critics were amazed this Ring was happening in a remote 

location of the United States, unknown to the world press for anything other than Boeing planes 

and a high annual rain count. Microsoft, Starbucks, and grunge music were still years away from 

registering Seattle on the world’s arts and culture map. But fans of opera knew that Seattle was 

becoming a major stop in any Wagner tour. By 1982, The New York Times reported that Seattle 

had become a serious rival to Bayreuth, drawing fans from all over the United States, Indonesia, 

Chile, South Africa, Switzerland, Tasmania, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Europe. 

The production was designed by John Naccarato and originally directed by George London. 

Later presentations of the production were directed by Lincoln Clark (1976-1983) and Ragnar 

Ulfung (1984). Henry Holt conducted all the cycles.

“It seems only yesterday that it was an impossible dream to present the Ring in America in its 

complete form. Back in 1953, when it was my good fortune to work at Bayreuth, my first 

viewing of the Ring had an impact on me which lasted a lifetime. Bringing the Ring to America 

has been a great privilege and the most fulfilling accomplishment of my entire life.” 

—Glynn Ross, Program Introduction to the fifth Ring Cycle. 

“Seattle’s huge opera house...was packed and repacked last month with pilgrims from all over 

the world....This festival...has established itself as the industrial world’s popular alternative to the 

Bayreuth Festival.” 

—Robert F. Ellsworth, The Wall Street Journal, August 14, 1981 

“Mr. and Mrs. Jan Kwist came from South Carolina in a camper truck, with a tuxedo for him and 

a long dress for her. William Cord, a Californian, timed his open heart surgery a few weeks ago 

so he could be here…They are among the thousands of people converging here this week to 

attend the opera. The opera? In Seattle? This city at the Northwest corner of the nation, best 

known for Boeing 747’s, sourdough, and sockeye salmon, has casually mounted one of the most 

ambitious operatic projects ever taken in the United States.” 

—Robert Lindsey, The New York Times, July 1975 

“Once we did [the Ring], we were on the map. Even the Germans recognized it. Richard Wagner 

in wildern Westen was one of the headlines in OpernWelt.” 

—Archie Drake [Company member, Gunther in both German and English Rings from 1975 to 

1980), 2001 interview conducted by Jonathan Dean 

“For opera buffs, it has been a smash. Night after night the murky doings onstage have had the 

audience standing and cheering in the 3,000-seat Opera House.” 

—John Brewer, Associated Press, August 1977 

“With swashbuckling frontier brashness, the Seattle Opera is presenting its fourth annual 

complete cycle…” 

—Amei Wallach, Newsday, July 1978 

“They cheered. They bravoed. They flung carnations on to the stage and stood applauding for 20 

minutes on the final night, refusing to go home. This was the kind of mass frenzy which broke 

out at Seattle Opera’s performances of Wagner’s Ring Cycle this summer, as if a new religion 

had come to town.” 

—The London Evening Standard, August 1981

Tannhäuser 

1985, 5 Performances 

The production, by Robert E. Darling, was conducted by Hermann Michael. 

“Most opera buffs know Seattle for its Ring, which has been produced here each summer since 

1975 (a new Walküre will be unveiled next summer, with a complete new Ring production to 

follow in 1986). Jenkins seems intent on extending the city's Wagnerian reputation by adding 

further productions to the company's repertoire—a process that may have happy results, if the 

quality of the new Tannhäuser is any indication.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Musical America, “Report from Seattle,” March 1985 

“To find a pair of tenors capable of handling merely the vocal demands of a role like Tannhäuser 

is not easy these days, and it argues well for the management's astuteness that in Edward Sooter 

and, especially, William Cochran, it offered two tenors who combine intelligence with stamina.” 

—Dale Harris, The Guardian, “An uneasy blend of stars and stripes,” December 21, 1984 

“Hermann Michael, in his American debut, was in the pit—a notable performance.” 

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “A Tannhäuser worth the wait,” November 5, 

1984 

“While many have come to associate Seattle Opera with Wagner because of the decade of 

summertime Ring cycles, the current production of Tannhäuser underscores the connection. 

When it comes to Wagner, Seattle Opera apparently can't be beat.” 

—Will Stuivenga, Jounal American, “Seattle Opera produces a stunning Tannhäuser,” 

November 6, 1984 

“Seattle Opera’s first Tannhäuser on November 3 also brought the company’s first use of 

Supratitles... the absorbed audience attention on opening night seemed ample justification for it.” 

—F. B. St. Clair, Opera News, January 19, 1985 Photo by Chris Bennion

Ring 2 (1985-1995) 

The production was directed by François Rochaix and designed by Robert Israel. Conductors 

included Armin Jordan (1985), Manuel Rosenthal (1986), and Hermann Michael (1987, 1991, 

1995). 

“SUNDAY, JULY 28, 1985 IS A DATE THAT deserves to be long remembered hereabouts. 

We might, indeed, make a secular addition to the calendar and call it St. Jenkins’ Day—the day 

when gentlemen in Bayreuth then abed might think themselves accursed they were not here. It 

was, above all, and at long last, the day when Seattle Opera came of age.” 

—William Dunlop, Seattle Weekly, “Die Walküre: Wagner can be fun,” July 31, 1985 

“This, without question, is a thinking-man's Ring.” 

—Martin Bernheimer, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1986 

“...there is an infectious sense of excitement and panache about the production by director 

Francois Rochaix and designer Bob Israel that does justice to Wagner's ambitious designs.” 

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, “Seattle's Ring Casts Last Spell,” August 1995 

“Who would've thought it? Siegfried, by common assent the most problematic of the four music 

dramas making up Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen, is a spectacular success in its latest 

incarnation from Seattle Opera.” 

—Kenneth LaFave, Arizona Republic, “Siegfried is scintillating in Seattle,” August 1995 

“...the immolation scene that puts more fire on stage than anywhere else is another trademark of 

Seattle's Ring.” 

—Albert Cohen, Ashbury Park Press, “Music Notes,” August 20, 1995 

“Long coddled by safe, representational operatic productions, the American public is getting a 

chance to see what directorial interpretation, so common in Europe, is all about.” 

—Michael Walsh, Time Magazine, August 18, 1986 

“Mr. Jenkins is to be congratulated for his bravery in presenting Seattle, already used to its 

hyperconservative Ring, with something this new and unusual.” 

—John Rockwell, The New York Times, August 8, 1986 

“The current Seattle Ring, new last year, is special not only because it makes a boldly original 

statement about the work, but also because it was made in the U.S.A.” 

—Peter G Davis, New York, August 24, 1987 

“Seattle's production offered substantial proof that the Ring retains the power to astonish and 

move the participant like no other work of musical theatre. The Rochaix-Israel production 

emerged as a consistently fascinating, sometimes inflammatory, often eloquent landmark in the 

company's history.”

—Allan Ulrich, San Francisco Examiner, August 23, 1987 

“Seattle Opera's three sold-out Ring cycles (this run is the final outing for this production) 

vindicated general director Speight Jenkins' vision of his company as a leading Wagner house in 

North America. The vividness of the performances, disciplined involvement from the 

international audience and an imaginative range of lectures by leading Wagner authorities 

combined to give this event a truly festive nature.” 

—F.B. St. Clair, Opera News, “Seattle Opera's three sold-out Ring cycles,” December 9, 1995 

“Long coddled by safe, representational operatic productions, the American public is getting a 

chance to see what directorial interpretation, so common in Europe, is all about.” 

—DMichael Walsh, Time Magazine, “Of Carousel Horses and Claws,” August 18, 1986 

“Seattle Opera's Siegfried Wednesday night at the Opera House was full of commitment and 

believability, astonishing pleasures and powerful music-making.” 

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Siegfried 's restaged second act astonishes Seattle 

crowd,” August 13, 1995 

Photo by Ron Scherl

Der Fliegende Holländer 




The 1989 production, revived in 2007, was directed by Stephen Wadsworth, with sets designed 

by Thomas Lynch, costumes designed by Dunya Ramicova, and lighting designed by Peter 

Kaczorowski. Gerard Schwarz conducted in 1989; Asher Fisch conducted in 2007. 

Reviews of 1989 Performances 

“The Flying Dutchman took off Saturday night and has been soaring all weekend in a new 

production whose appeal extends far beyond the rank and file of Seattle's Wagner fans.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, “Dutchman does Wagner proud,” January 16, 1989 

“Chalk up another provocative encounter with a Richard Wagner music drama for Seattle 

Opera.” 

—Mark Mandel, The Oregonian, “Seattle Opera offers provocative Wagner,” January 16, 1989 

“On a musical level the production succeeds brilliantly.” 

—Douglas McLennan, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Dutchman a musical success,” January 16, 

1989 

“Steven Spielberg couldn’t have done it better.” 

—Diane Wright, Everett Herald, January 16, 1989 

“Up in the Pacific Northwest, the Seattle Opera triumphantly unveiled a new production of The 

Flying Dutchman which must rank as the most dramatically satisfying staging of this Wagnerian 

work I have encountered in nearly twenty-five years of opera-going.” 

—George Heymont, Bay Area Reporter, April 13, 1989 


“Special praise needs to be heaped on conductor Asher Fisch—and in horse doctor’s doses. For 

all of its power and visceral impact, Der Fliegende Holländer is a tough score to handle. A 

conductor needs to highlight the foreboding without being ponderous, he needs to dispatch the 

less than inspired moments quickly without upsetting the pace, and he needs to keep things 

moving without rushing. All while allowing his singers adequate room and keeping the tension at 

one step short of intolerable. He does it, and he kept the Seattle Opera Orchestra with him every 

stop of the way. Could it be that a genuine successor to Karl Böhm has at last been found?” 

—Ivan Katz, Huffington Post, August 13, 2007 

“Greer Grimsley, who is a Seattle favorite but whom I was encountering for the first time, 

covered himself in glory. A handsome man, slim of build, he looked the part, and his singing was 

a sumptuous outpouring of bass-baritone sound, molded with style and sensitivity.” 

—Bernard Jacobson, Seen and Heard International, August 19, 2007

Photo of Greer Grimsley in Seattle Opera’s 2007 Der Fliegende Holländer by Wah Lui

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg 


The production was directed by François Rochaix, designed by Jean-Claude Maret, and 

conducted by Hermann Michael. Photo, below, by Ron Scherl. 

“This was no outing scaled to an audience of locals and tourists just getting their feet wet in the 

Wagner swamp. It was a magnet for experienced Wagnerites prepared to be challenged by 

sophisticated arguments.” 

—Leighton Kerner, Village Voice, “Nuremberg Trial,” Sept. 5, 1989 

“This Meistersinger was billed as the company's biggest production ever, with hundred and 

eighty performers onstage, and over three hundred costumes. It was not grandiose. It was a 

lively, attractive presentation, freshly thought, well integrated...” 

—Andrew Porter, New Yorker, “Sound Wagnerians,” September 25, 1989 

“This is the kind of opera we see too rarely today, be the town New York, San Francisco, Milan, 

London, or Vienna...one had the wonderful sense of the production existing as a true 

collaborative effort instead of single star turns here and there.” 

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “The real stuff in Meistersinger,” August 5, 1989 

“The Great Northwest has not only a new Meistersinger, but also one worth traveling to see.” 

—Donal Henahan, The New York Times, “Seattle Opera Pulls All the Stops Out,” August 13, 

1989 

“The most lavish, complicated and expensive of the performing arts, grand opera can dazzle the 

senses and the intellect when it’s done right—as it triumphantly is in Seattle Opera’s seasonopening 

production of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, August 4, 1989 

“Seattle Opera's $1.5 million production of Wagner's Die Meistersinger takes a fresh, intimate, 

delightful look at opera's longest, richest, wisest comedy.” 

—Mark Mandel, The Oregonian, “Seattle Opera's lively Die Meistersinger leaves audience 

aglow,” August 8, 1989

Lohengrin 




The 1994 production, revived in 2004, was directed by Stephen Wadsworth, with sets designed 

by Thomas Lynch, costumes designed by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting designed by Peter 

Kaczorowski. Hermann Michael conducted in 1994; Asher Fisch conducted in 2004. 


“With a dramatically cogent new production directed by Stephen Wadsworth, and a cast of 

valiant singers in other roles, this is a compelling, vocally effective treatment of Wagner's 

Romantic melodrama...” 

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, “A Heroic Lohengrin in Seattle,” July 26, 1994 

“Lohengrin's swan, a motorized replica, is beautifully managed. A swan does not a Lohengrin 

make, but the minimal dignity of its movements here is emblematic of a restraint and taste 

common in this production.” 

—Bernard Holland, The New York Times, “Lohengrin in Seattle: Minimal and Dignified,” July 

26, 1994 

“A visually striking, musically rewarding Lohengrin (July 23) made an appropriate prelude to the 

return of Seattle Opera's Ring next summer.” 

—F.B. St. Clair, Opera News, December 10, 1994 

“Heppner has developed into the finest Lohengrin of our time, better than Placido Domingo, with 

a sturdy, multi-textured voice and burly but charismatic presence ideally suited to Wadsworth's 

less-ethereal conception.” 

—David Patrick Steams, USA Today, “Seattle Opera gives voice to a fresh Lohengrin,” July 26, 

1994 

“Greer Grimsley made a strong company debut as Telramund, putting a capable, dark-hued 

baritone to work in a potent though narrow characterization of the villain.” 

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, “A Heroic Lohengrin in Seattle,” July 26, 1994 

“By hewing a disciplined musical and dramatic line, Seattle Opera has set a shining artistic 

standard with its current production of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.” 

—Cheryl North, The Oakland Tribune, July 31, 1994 

“Famed for its innovative Ring cycle, Seattle Opera has scored yet another major Wagnerian 

success to commence its 1994-1995 season—a meticulously crafted, marvelously creative 

production of Lohengrin.” 

—Cary Smith, Journal American, July 25, 1994

Reviews of 2004 Performances Photo, below, by Chris Bennion 

“In its impressive catalog of Wagner productions, Seattle Opera's Lohengrin stands among the 

best.” 

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intellingencer, “Lohengrin starts season wonderfully,” August 2, 

2004 

“By now, everyone expects the Seattle Opera Chorus to sound great, but the singers surpassed 

themselves this time. Kudos to chorusmaster Beth Kirchhoff and to the choristers (especially the 

men ofAct II).” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, “Lively staging makes opera seem speedy,” August 2, 2004 

“Asher Fisch, the Israeli conductor who led a splendid Parsifal last summer, drew both lyrical 

and muscular playing from the orchestra.” 

—David Stabler, Oregonian, “A knight, a swan and a broken vow,” August 3, 2004 

“Jane Eaglen as the scheming sorceress Ortrud and Greer Grimsley as her evil husband 

Telramund will stop at nothing to claim a kingdom that is not rightfully theirs. Before the night is 

over, there are false accusations of murder, blood on the floor and broken hearts all around. But 

what a grand time Eaglen and Grimsley have in creating all this chaos, singing and acting up a 

storm throughout the four-hour-plus production, setting a high standard in this season-opening 

production.” 

—Mike Murray, Everett Herald, “Bad guys have grand time in Lohengrin,” August 6, 2004 

“In director Stephen Wadsworth's psychologically penetrating treatment of Wagner's myth- 

opera, even the swan has a motivation. Nothing is stagey or stiff.” 

—Jen Graves, Tacoma News Tribune, “Seattle Opera offers masterful Lohengrin,” August 6, 

2004 

“Solidly sung and well staged, Seattle Opera's Lohengrin is worth seeing and hearing, especially 

the robust voice of Jane Eaglen as the diabolical Ortrud.” 

—Christopher DeLaurenti, The Stranger, “Lohengrin,” August 12, 2004

Tristan und Isolde 

1981, 6 Performances during season plus 1 Performance between Rings 



The 1998 production was directed by Francesca Zambello and designed by Alison Chitty; Armin 

Jordan conducted. The 2010 production was directed by Peter Kazaras and designed by Robert 

Israel; Asher Fisch conducted. 

Reviews of 1998 Production 

“Wagner fans from all over the U.S. and abroad have been pouring into the Pacific Northwest to 

cheer the English soprano Jane Eaglen and the Canadian tenor Ben Heppner, both singing the 

roles for the first time, and they proved to be singers who not only survive the music but make 

something of it.” 

—Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal, “Doomed as Lovers, Tristan and Isolde Are 

Triumphant as Singers,” August 14, 1998 

“There are times when an opera performance comes along just when it is most needed to restore 

my faith in the art. One such instance is the Seattle Opera’s new production of Tristan und 

Isolde.” 

—John Ardoin, Dallas Morning News, August 17, 1998 

“The Seattle Opera has been an important place for [soprano Jane Eaglen and tenor Ben 

Heppner], and the company came through for them, providing a noted conductor, Armin Jordan, 

generous rehearsal time and a provocative production directed by Francesca Zambello...” 

—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, “Tristan and Isolde for a New Century,” August 3, 

1998 

“It's a dazzling production, visually memorable and musically exciting.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, “Dazzling Tristan und Isolde was worth the wait,” August 3, 

1998 

“It may be no exaggeration to call it the finest performance the world has seen of this 

astonishingly difficult masterwork in the past quarter-century.” 

—Mike Silverman, Associated Press, “Tristan und Isolde Shines,” August 2, 1998 

“The staging, abetted by one of the most atmospheric lighting designs seen in any opera house 

lately, is expressionistic in the best sense, giving lip service to representing reality and then 

delving into the world inside the characters' minds.” 

—David Patrick Stearns, USA Today, “A fiery Tristan und Isolde ignites the Seattle 

stage,” August 3, 1998 

“Over the last dozen years, Seattle Opera's general director Speight Jenkins has turned a 

respectable regional company into a world-class operation.” 

—Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, “Seattle sets up Tristan with strong Isolde,” August 7, 1998

“Opera visitors to Seattle found Wagner’s ultimate romance, Tristan und Isolde, presented in 

striking modernist style, and well-enough sung by artists of the innovative Seattle Opera to throw 

audiences into delirious standing ovations. One does not often see nearly 3,000 people rise en 

masse at the end to applaud and cheer with such lusty approval, reportedly the reaction after each 

of ten performances.” 

—J. A. Van Sant, Opera Now, January/February 1999 

“The production of Tristan und Isolde mounted by the Seattle Opera House in August, 1998 is 

one that Wagnerians have been dreaming about for more than a quarter of a century...this is an 

opera experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life.” 

—Frances Henry, Wagner News, January/February 1999 

“Not only did Seattle Opera’s highly anticipated Tristan und Isolde unite the great hopes for 

heroic Wagner singing today—Ben Heppner and Jane Eaglen, in their first assumption of the 

title roles—it also offered further confirmation of the company’s claim as North America’s 

preeminent Wagner producer.” 

—F. B. St. Clair, Opera News, October 1998 

Photo by Gary Smith

Reviews of 2010 Production 

“There could hardly be any doubt of the overwhelming vocal and orchestral glory this 

performance achieved under Asher Fisch's masterful baton.” 

—Bernard Jacobson, Seattle Times, August 2, 2010 

“Fisch never disappoints in elucidating the music. His palette seems immense, his range of 

dynamic variation equally large. He has full command of the line, which never seems to end, and 

produces tremendous beauty of tone. He gets the best of this orchestra." 

—R.M. Campbell, The Gathering Note, August 1, 2010 

“An almost overwhelming volume of sound sweeps out from the stage and into the 

house...Greer Grimsley made an affecting and resonant Kurwenal. Margaret Jane Wray’s 

gleaming, powerful soprano gave the handmaiden role of Brangäne unusual impact. Stephen 

Milling was almost too good as King Marke: a noble, empathetic man whose pain and decency 

were made so real.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, The Classical Review, August 1, 2010 

Annalena Persson as Isolde and Clifton Forbis as Tristan (Photo by Rozarii Lynch)

Ring 3 (2000-2013) 

This production is directed by Stephen Wadsworth, with sets designed by Thomas Lynch, 

costumes designed by Martin Pakledinaz, and lighting designed by Peter Kaczorowski. Armin 

Jordan conducted the performances in 2000, Franz Vote in 2001; Robert Spano conducted the 

cycles in 2005 and 2009. Asher Fisch will conduct the 2013 Ring. 

“Seattle’s staging may well be the premiere Ring of the new century.” 

—Wes Blomster, Opera Now, November/December 2000 

“Through its longtime commitment to Wagner, the company has nurtured an audience eager to 

experience the Ring as all-encompassing theater.” 

—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, “Back to Nature In Seattle On Rhine,” August 13, 

2001 

“Every indication is that the company has a genuine triumph on its hands, a lavish operatic feast 

for ears, eyes, heart and mind.” 

—Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle, “Seattle ‘Ring’ cycle a triumph,” August 8, 2001 

“In its third production of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen over the past 25 years, Seattle 

Opera has returned to its roots: a concern for Wagner's text and evocation of the natural world.” 

—R. M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Seattle Opera’s Rheingold, Walküre are 

engrossing and exciting productions,” August 7, 2000 

“...a Ring of extraordinary beauty and theatrical vibrancy.” 

—Mike Silverman, Associated Press, “Seattle Opera stages new production of Ring cycle,” 

August 16, 2001 

“Rooted in the natural world, the stunning sets by Tom Lynch and lighting by Peter Kaczorowski 

evoke the landscape of the Pacific Northwest...” 

—Heidi Waleson, The Wall Street Journal, “Opera: Nature Rules in a Triumphant Ring,” August 

15, 2001 

“When Speight Jenkins, Seattle's General Director, proclaimed that he had engaged Stephen 

Wadsworth to fashion a Ring combining fidelity to Wagner's scenery with inclusive, 

psychological acting’, he might have been chasing a dream: a second exercise in naive 

literalism. But, incredibly, Seattle has produced a Ring as stirring as the Met's is anodyne.” 

—Joseph Horowitz, Times Literary Supplement, “In its natural environment,” August 24, 2001 

“This new Ring was a major cultural event in the city, and the cheering audiences were 

consistently supportive.” 

—Anthony Tommasini, The ew York Times, “Back to Nature In Seattle On Rhine,” August 13, 

2001

Parsifal 


The production was directed by François Rochaix and designed by Robert Israel. Asher Fisch 

made his Seattle Opera debut conducting the inaugural performance in McCaw Hall. 

“Perfect Wagnerite that he is, Speight Jenkins, general director of the Seattle Opera, could hardly 

have passed up the chance to consecrate his company's new stage with the master's ultimate 

mystery play. A New York music critic turned impresario, Mr. Jenkins has, during his two 

decade tenure, built his company into one of the great Wagner shrines of the world.” 

—Matthew Gurewitsch, The Wall Street Journal, “Seattle Opera House: From Brick Box to 

Jewel Box,” August 28, 2003 

“The acoustics revealed in Parsifal's first magical floating bars is exquisite.” 

—Jochen Breiholz, Die Welt, “Seattle Opera opens its new hall with Parsifal,” September 10, 

2003 (translated from original German) 

“And from the start the voices of the strong cast came through vividly.” 

—Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, “Seattle Opera Gamble: The Results Are In,” 

August 5, 2003 

“There wasn't a weak spot anywhere in the cast. In fact, this is one of the best-cast Wagnerian 

productions in the company's history.” 

—Melinda Bargreen, Seattle Times, “Opening Knight,” August 4, 2003 

“...an astonishing coup drew gasps at the end of Act 2, when the five-level tower of the sorcerer 

Klingsor was suddenly inhaled into the stage floor.” 

—Mike Dunham, Anchorage Daily News, “Seattle’s New Jewel,” August 10, 2003 

“[Conductor Asher] Fisch created a long, sinuous line and some of the most beautiful and 

effortless sonorities I have ever heard from the pit.” 

—R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Parsifal at McCaw Hall is extraordinary,” August 

4, 2003 

“One and all—as well as the celestial choruses placed above and behind the stage, so the singing 

sounded as if from heaven—had well earned the standing, shouting ovations at the opera's final 

curtain.” 

—Carole Beers, King County Journal, “New Seattle opera house helps Wagner’s Parsifal reach 

near perfection,” August 4, 2003

Christopher Ventris (Parsifal), Kevin Langan (Titurel), Greer Grimsley (Amfortas), 

and Linda Watson (Kundry) in Seattle Opera’s 2003 Parsifal (Rozarii Lynch, photo)

Full Articles and Reviews 

“Glynn Ross: 1914-2005,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2005 

“Glynn Ross: 1914-2005,” Seattle Times, 2005 

“Glynn Ross, 90, Put Seattle On the Map for Opera Lovers,” The New York Times, 2005 

“Glynn Ross: A Most Remarkable Man and Ringmeister Extraordinaire,” Leitmotive, 1997 

“Seattle Opera took gamble on the grand scale to launch Wagner epic,” The Vancouver Sun, 

1982

Press Kit - Seattle Opera

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?