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| Speight Jenkins, left, and James Robinson, right, at a rehearsal for Seattle Opera's 2004 production of Carmen. Seattle Opera, photo |
James Robinson, Seattle Opera General & Artistic Director
"As we mourn the loss of Seattle Opera’s former General Director, we also celebrate the extraordinary impacts he made on the world of opera and the greater arts scene in the Pacific Northwest. Speight was a force, a true impresario who launched countless careers over the years. I had the opportunity to direct a production of Carmen for Speight in 2004 during the inaugural season in McCaw Hall, a theatre he was terribly proud of and one that remains among the finest in the world. Speight was exacting, demanding, and utterly committed to excellence. He remains an inspiration to so many of us who now lead opera companies in the US."
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| Left to right: Lawrence Brownlee, Speight Jenkins, and former Seattle Opera Board member Laura Lundgren at a reception for Seattle Opera's 2011 production of The Barber of Seville. Rozarii Lynch, photo |
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor
"Some people enter our lives and, through the simple yet profound act of believing in us, alter the course of our journey forever. Their faith becomes a steady light for us, revealing possibilities we might never have seen on our own and giving us the courage to pursue them. Many people have encouraged me throughout my career, but few have believed in me as faithfully and intentionally as Speight Jenkins. His support was endless and came not only in moments of success, but also in moments of uncertainty. He saw possibilities in me that I sometimes could not see in myself, and gave me opportunity after opportunity to hone my craft and establish myself as a serious artist. This is a monumental loss for me. Whatever I have or will accomplish will be thanks to my dear friend, Speight Jenkins. Thank you infinitively, Speight. Rest in peace!"
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| Stephen Wadsworth, left, and Speight Jenkins, right, posing with the animatronic swan from Seattle Opera's 1994 production of Lohengrin. Seattle Opera, photo |
Stephen Wadsworth, stage director
"Speight anchored my career. I directed 17 times for Seattle Opera, including in his first and last seasons—11 new productions and a number of revivals. Seattle was my home theater for his 30 years there. He was a brilliant, hands-on producer unique in American opera. His encouragement and loyalty spurred the careers of many singers and directors, and his blue-chip friendship was and remains singular—intellectually stimulating, steeped in laughter, and constant. He is the only impresario in history who regularly received frenzied, lengthy applause simply stepping before the curtain to make a pre-show announcement. On the last night of our Ring cycle in 2013, shortly before he retired, I called him out onstage for the summer’s final solo bow, and every single person in the theater rose as one and screamed. I’ve heard every great singer of the last sixty-five years, but to this day I’ve never heard an ovation like that."
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| Left to right: Jane Eaglen, Speight Jenkins, Francesca Zambello, and Ben Heppner during Seattle Opera's 1998 production run of Tristan and Isolde. Gary Smith, photo |
Francesca Zambello, Washington National Opera Artistic Director
"Everyone has a few people who believe in them when they are young and getting going—Speight Jenkins was one of those very special people for me. When I met him in 1986 it was because he brought my production of Faust to Seattle; he immediately followed by giving me a new production of Werther, a special gift for a young director.
"He was a true impresario in the classical sense. In his role as General Director, he was hands-on, always in rehearsals, always watching and making suggestions in a constructive way, softened by his charming Southern accent. He always phrased everything as a question when he was giving a note. A good lesson I tried to learn from him!
"The thing that joined us together more than anything was the months we spent putting together our monumental production of War and Peace which was presented during the USSR-USA Goodwill Games in Seattle in the summer of 1990. We developed every aspect of the production together from the designs to the casting. The cast included more than 30 soloists, plus a huge chorus, supers and ballet. We decided to cast the opera with half Soviet artists and half Americans, something revolutionary at the time under the baton of the music director of the Bolshoi Opera.
"When the Soviets arrived in Seattle (with their KGB “assistants”), it was a startling coming together at first. None of us had ever worked with so many Soviet/Russian artists and for them it was an overwhelming introduction to America and a freedom unknown to them. Over the weeks we spent together, we formed some lifelong bonds, some that still endure. The most powerful moments came as we witnessed the daily changing of the government in the Soviet Union under Gorbachev. A seminal moment was the announcement of the renaming of Leningrad to St. Petersburg. Speight and I held some of the artists as they wept for they felt they were regaining their city and their homeland. The message of the destruction of Napoleon and the French troops in Prokofiev’s opera was a powerful metaphor resounding around us as the U.S.S.R. cracked apart.
"The audiences greeted us wildly with long ovations after this more than five-hour uncut epic. I know for Speight it was one of the things he felt with the most pride. We had many other collaborations over the years, but this one stayed deep in our hearts always.
I will miss our many exchanges—always signed as 'Love, SP8.'"
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| Left to right: Speight Jenkins, Laurel Nesholm, and John Nesholm. Seattle Opera, photo |
John F. Nesholm, Seattle Opera Board of Directors Chair Emeritus
"Seattle, Seattle Opera, and the opera world have lost a giant. Speight brought Seattle Opera into the first rank of opera companies nationally and internationally. His groundbreaking productions of Wagner’s Ring attracted audiences from every state and dozens of countries. Speight’s manifold contributions to opera were extensive, influential and brought many into McCaw Hall. In retirement he continued teaching and inspiring others through his deep knowledge of and infectious passion for our beloved artform. He will be sorely missed."
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| Speight Jenkins, center, with Peter Kazaras, right, at a rehearsal for Seattle Opera's 2010 production of Falstaff. Seattle Opera, photo |
Peter Kazaras, stage director
"Everyone has a special story, or many, about Speight Jenkins. Some of them share a common throughline—madcap rehearsals ending in riotous laughter or a simple look of appreciation, lavish compliments given with childish glee, stories about great singers of the past, memories of amazing performances he had seen from the Met on tour in Dallas and later on in New York, and we all will remember forever his inimitable way of talking. It is implanted in my eardrums and nervous system, for sure. Has anyone else’s way of speaking ever made you smile so readily?
"But the one thing that truly sets Speight apart for me, and has done so since we first met, is his enthusiastic readiness to take a risk. He trusted his ear and, more importantly, his gut. If he felt “it” from an artist, he would trust that vibration and would give you more than enough rope to hang yourself with many times over. Fortunately, most of the time these gambles paid off in an important way both for the artist and for Seattle Opera. So many of us truly owe our careers to Speight, but more importantly, we came to understand how to fully be our artist selves thanks in part to our relationship with him and his unique mentorship style. In my case, he always gave me permission to disagree with him, especially once I started directing. He would listen to my point of view, and he’d let me know he trusted me to do the job he had hired me to do. His faith in an artist was a serious business, and so many people in our world today are doing what they do because Speight believed in them at a crucial juncture. And once he went to bat for you, he was in your corner for life.
"I tried to tell him how loved he was by so many folks several times, but of course he would shrug it off. He was not in the least sentimental about himself. If he were talking about Leonie Rysanek or Birgit Nilsson, then of course he would wax poetic. But despite his occasionally skeptical assessment of his own work and life, he did inspire tremendous devotion and love in countless others. I so hope he understood and felt this over these many decades."
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