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By Vivien Schweitzer
10 Jan 2007
Speight Jenkins will celebrate Seattle Opera's 2007-08 season, his 25th as general director of the company, with new stagings of Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride and Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer, revivals of Pagliacci and Tosca, and the Seattle premiere of Bellini's I Puritani.
"For my 25th season as general director of Seattle Opera, I am delighted to offer five very intense and theatrical works containing some of opera’s greatest moments … These five works explore different styles of composing, and each opera offers a very different aspect of life. The unifying theme in all is an emphasis on human desire."
The season opens August 4 with Holländer and closes on May 17, 2008 with Puritani.
Iphigénie en Tauride — a new staging, and Seattle Opera's first co-production with the Metropolitan Opera — premieres on October 13 and runs through the 27th, with soprano Nuccia Focile in the title role, Brett Polegato as Orestes and tenor William Burden as Pylades. The production is directed by Stephen Wadsworth; sets are by Thomas Lynch; costumes by Martin Pakledinaz and choreography by Daniel Pelzig. Gary Thor Wedow conducts the Seattle performances. (At the Met, where the production opens on November 27, Susan Graham stars as Iphigenia, with Plácido Domingo as Orestes and Paul Groves as Pylades.)
"Our casts are largely American, but also include singers from many countries, and they represent the best of opera today," Jenkins added.
Those singers also include soprano Jane Eaglen and baritone Greer Grimsley as Senta and the Dutchman in Der fliegende Holländer, and Focile as Nedda and tenor Antonello Palombi as Canio in Pagliacci. In I Puritani, sopranos Norah Amsellem and Eglise Gutiérrez will alternate as the Elviras, tenors Lawrence Brownlee and John Osborn as the Arturos, baritones Mariusz Kwiecien and Morgan Smith as the Riccardos and basses John Relyea and Denis Sedov as the GIorgios.
Seattle Opera newcomers include bass Daniel Sumegi as Daland in Holländer; Marie Plette as Iphigenia, sopranos Lisa Daltirus and Michele Capalbo alternating as the Toscas, and tenors Frank Poretta and Brandon Javonovich as the two Cavaradossis.
Director Wadsworth, set designer Lynch and lighting designer Peter Kaczorowski, the team behind Seattle Opera's current Ring cycle and the new Iphigénie, will also collaborate on the company's revival of Holländer, which runs August 4-25 with Asher Fisch conducting.
Puritani, which runs May 3-17, features new set designs by Robert A. Dahlstrom and period costumes from the Metropolitan Opera designed by Peter J. Hall. Edoardo Müller conducts and Linda Brovsky directs.
Pagliacci runs January 12-26; Bernard Uzan directs and Dean Williamson conducts. Tosca runs February 23-March 9; Vjekoslav Sutej conducts, Chris Alexander directs and sets are by Thierry Bosquet.
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