When I moved to Seattle in the summer of 2004, I had never seen a live opera. It wasn’t for lack of interest; classical music had taken hold of me during my student years in Iowa, and opera was part of that passion from early on. The first I ever heard was Salome, followed by The Magic Flute, and then Rigoletto. I had listened plenty, I just hadn’t actually gone to a show.

My first was a revival of Seattle’s 1994 Lohengrin and I was lucky for it. Greer Grimsley sang Telramund, Jane Eaglen was Ortrud, and Asher Fisch conducted. Fisch was a Wagnerian on the rise that summer, while Grimsley would go on to return regularly for Seattle’s other Wagner productions. Eaglen, meanwhile, was nearing the end of her active stage career. Seattle Opera under Speight Jenkins was exactly the right place to hear all three. Wagner was a late-summer tradition there; under Jenkins, audiences could count on Ring cycles at regular intervals and, in the years between, some of the finest Wagner being performed in the country.

Jenkins was a skilled programmer and caster, but what truly set him apart was something else: he understood audiences. Before running Seattle Opera, he had worked as a journalist and critic—a background that kept him honest and close to the people in the seats. He knew what it took to introduce someone new to opera, and what it took to keep them coming back. His real gift, though, was presence. Before a show or during intermission, Jenkins mingled with patrons, sharing his enthusiasm freely. He was genuinely engaged with the audience he wanted to reach.

Seattle Opera has not been the same since he retired in 2014. Whether he could have steered the company through the nearly constant financial pressures now bearing down on it—and on opera broadly—is unknowable. Still, it is challenging to envision the company ever being led by someone like Jenkins again, a figure who possessed such a unique blend of vision, taste, and unwavering dedication to the art form.

Seattle Opera’s tribute to Speight.

Joe Horowitz’s summation of Jenkins’ importance to Seattle and opera broadly.

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