Category: Seattle

Although last week, Stig Andersen suffered from a viral infection while performing “Siegfried,” I had the fortune to hear him in tip top shape during the Seattle Opera performance on Thursday, August 20th. Andersen, in the title role, put on a real show for heldentenor fans by offering plenty of volume while maintaining a lyrical tone at the same time. Adding to his vocal fireworks, Andersen expressed the exuberant vigor of a young man who was naïve yet curious about the world. Andersen also did wonders with singing while making a sword the old-fashioned way, slaying a dragon, and going through fire to find Brünnhilde. So, Andersen carried most of the weight that made Seattle Opera’s production of “Siegfried” a hit. Continue reading Second Ring Cycle: Andersen turns in world-class Siegfried

The performance of “Die Walküre” on Tuesday night (August 18) got off to a great start from the outset with the orchestra leading the way. The instrumentalists really came alive under the baton of Robert Spano and even got a little wild at times. Their playing may have inspired the singers as well, so that the audience got to experience a stirring performance. Continue reading Second Ring Cycle: Die Walküre smolders and catches fire

With this “Ring” production here for the third time, you’d think all the kinks with costumes had been ironed out by now with just a few garments to be altered or remade, but there was plenty to do. Costume shop manager Susan Davis says views change. For instance, the costumes in 2001 were very full with yards and yards of fabric. “What seemed gorgeous and perfect in 2001 now seems too much,” she says, so the shop took several panels of fabric out of the gods’ and other coats and at the same time quite a bit of the hair out of the wigs.

Performers are all different, not just in body size, but shape and skin color and the way they move, as well as the kind of movement they have to do on stage. It all gets taken into account.

Continue reading The magic of Seattle Opera’s costume shop

When the curtain goes up at the beginning of Seattle Opera’s production of “Das Rheingold” after the long orchestral introduction, the audience is plunged into the watery world of the mermaids who swim about in the Rhine River.  I experienced this magical moment for the first time during Seattle’s “Ring” in 2005, and – based on the performance I saw on Monday, August 17th –  it has not lost any of its luster. The three Rhine maidens, strapped in special harnesses that allowed them to swim in the watery light, dived, did front flips and back flips, and sang at the same time.  It was mesmerizing. Continue reading Second Ring Cycle: Das Rheingold glistens in Seattle

The first cycle wrapped up last Friday.  The second cycle started anew (rebirth?) last night.  Before Twilight began on Friday, I talked with Christopher Budd about why Twilight of the Gods is his favorite, the Seattle Siegfried curse, and social media and opera.

If you need to know something about the Ring Cycle, you probably shouldn’t ask Cassidy Brettler. She really doesn’t know anything about Richard Wagner’s masterpiece. If you want to know what will make the Seattle Opera’s staging of the 15-hour-long, four-opera cycle exhilarating, though, she is the perfect person to ask. By the time Seattle Opera’s production begins later this month, the 20-year-old will have experienced how the Rhine Maidens fly, faced Fafner the dragon and absorbed more about Richard Wagner’s masterpiece than anyone could ever hope. Not bad for someone who is not, technically, a part of the massive production. Brettler is the winner of Confessions, a Seattle Opera contest that pitted four opera newbies against one another for the chance to host a 10-minute documentary on the Ring and the Seattle Opera. For the last month Brettler has been collecting her prize, shadowing singers, stagehands and others as they prepare for the major stage and musical event of the summer. Sound talked with Brettler about her experiences thus far.

Continue reading Q&A wtih Cassidy Brettler: Seattle Opera Confession’s winner

“Gotterdammerung,” the concluding episode of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy, “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” is an arduous journey, impossibly lengthy and complex. At its best, it is thrilling and sublime, at its worst, boring and just long-winded.

Seattle Opera’s production, its third in some 34 years, is nearly always riveting, making drama both visually and musically, and immensely appealing and human. Credit goes to stage director Stephen Wadsworth, who only stumbles on occasion, and a long list of singing actors who bring their roles to life. Over an amazing three-month rehearsal period, every detail is meticulously worked out, so that the result is an almost seamless flow of action wedded to music. In the pit is conductor Robert Spano, his second Seattle “Ring,” who presides over the affair in a sensitive and alert manner.

Continue reading The first cycle in three of Seattle Opera’s “Ring” closed Friday night at McCaw Hall