State of the company

Sean Airhart photo

A letter from Seattle Opera Board President, Brian Marks

Dear Seattle Opera supporters,

I am absolutely thrilled about our new season, and I hope you are too. Passion, fantasy, and intrigue will abound in performances of Rigoletto, Cinderella, and La bohème, Eugene Onegin, which was last presented by the company nearly two decades ago, and Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, a compelling new drama about the jazz icon, in combination with a recital by the talented Costa-Jackson sisters—Ginger, Marina, and Miriam—makes the 2019/20 season our biggest in recent years. In addition, with the growing Seattle population, we are adding more performances of favorites Rigoletto and La bohème. We’re also introducing the first weekday matinee since the opening of McCaw Hall. We look forward to welcoming middle- and high-school students to this performance of La bohème.

OPERA FOR ALL

And if that’s not enough, we’re adding a chamber opera to the season’s line-up in November 2019. The Falling and the Rising is a new American opera we commissioned based on the true stories of active duty soldiers and veterans. It will be the first chamber production in the Opera Center’s Tagney Jones Hall. But more importantly, this opera demonstrates our commitment to telling stories that speak to the hearts and minds of Seattleites and Washingtonians. This story is especially relevant because of our community connections to the armed services. The Falling and the Rising follows other works that illustrate our pledge to telling diverse stories. Among them are O+E, a retelling of the classic tale of Orpheus and Eurydice that featured women in the leading roles; and An American Dream, a story inspired by two real-life Puget Sound women: a German Jewish immigrant worried about family she left behind and a Japanese American forced to leave her home.

YOUR NEXT VISIONARY LEADER

Many of you are eager for an update on the board’s progress toward naming a new General Director. I can report that the search committee has retained an executive search firm to assist the board. Together we are hard at work identifying potential candidates who closely align with the company’s mission, vision, and values. We will report to you again when a candidate has been selected.

What’s more, any candidate to lead Seattle Opera will want to know what our plans are for the Ring. We know you do too. Seattle Opera has a long history of presenting Richard Wagner’s Ring. In 1975, we were the first to stage a complete cycle in the United States in more than 35 years. That production and subsequent presentations helped build U.S. audiences for this important repertoire. However, in recent years, several U.S. companies have presented partial or complete Ring cycles, reducing Seattle Opera’s distinct exclusivity with this work. We are proud of our legacy of bringing this important work to the U.S. opera canon.

Building a new production of the Ring is a significant financial commitment for any opera company and will require a substantial fundraising campaign to create and present an entire cycle set. Given the costs and the planning timeline required, the decision to mount a new Ring will be between the new General Director and the Board of Directors and should not be expected before the company’s 60th anniversary in 2023.

OPERA CENTER OPENING

Thank you to all who attended one of our opening Opera Center events in December. It was a festive and celebratory month! Our staff and artists are now settling into producing opera in this beautiful new facility designed for 21st century opera. As Aidan has reported in past State of the Company emails, the opening of the Opera Center is an opportunity for the company to evaluate all of its facilities. In keeping with the growing practice of co-creating new productions as we have recently done with Porgy and Bess, Aida, and The Barber of Seville, Seattle Opera continues to collaborate with other companies both nationally and globally. Upcoming co-productions include The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, Carmen, and Eugene Onegin (the latter of which is a joint effort by five US opera companies). These collaborations allow us to stage reimagined favorites in the grand style you enjoy, while simultaneously reducing our construction costs. Consequently, in recent years the fabrication and construction work for opera sets at our Renton Scene Shop facility has declined. Since the start of the 2016/17 season through our recently announced 2019/20 season, only two new mainstage opera sets (out of 20) were completed start to finish out of the Renton facility. In addition, much of the work we have been doing at the site recently, such as receiving incoming sets, constructing components of set pieces, and making repairs, is shifting to the Opera Center. As a result, the work in Renton will decline further.

In the past year, the Board of Directors has analyzed future uses of the Renton Scene Shop facility and has recommended the sale of site. We will begin this process by talking with parties who may be interested in purchasing the site and continuing its use as an independent scene shop. The sale of the property is a critical part of the company’s overall financial well-being and will help secure some of the funding needed to stage future mainstage performances in the coming years. I want to assure you that this will not impact what you see on stage or your overall opera experience. In fact, most large US opera companies do not operate sizable scene shops such as the facility we own in Renton. Companies in our industry are working more closely together to design and construct sets that we can share and enjoy with all of our audiences.

THE BIG OPERA PARTY

The Opera Center will deliver more opera programs with each coming month but there is a very special event coming up that will give you a one-night-only experience of opera and music. Please join me at our first ever Big Opera Party on Friday, May 10. The festive night starts with a reception in the Opera Center, followed by dining on the stage of McCaw Hall surrounded by the set of Carmen. In addition to performances and a live auction of exclusive opera experiences, the merriment continues with an after-dinner dance party. Proceeds raised at the event will benefit Seattle Opera programs and overall operations. You can reserve your place at the party at seattleopera.org/bigoperaparty or by calling 206.389.7669.

Your Seattle Opera Board of Directors is dedicated to supporting this company and stewarding your investment so that Seattle Opera continues to create opera we all love.

With gratitude,










Brian Marks
President, Seattle Opera Board

The Music of Communication: Notes from Composer

Mason Bates

By Mason Bates, composer  

The story of Steve Jobs exists at the intersection of creativity, technology, and human communication—a thematic crossroads that opera can explore unlike any other medium. Opera, after all, can illuminate the interior thoughts of different characters simultaneously through the juxtaposition of individual themes. That makes it an ideal medium to explore a man who revolutionized how we communicate.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs explodes the concept of Wagnerian leitmotifs—the melodies assigned to various characters—into soundworlds. Each character in this opera walks onstage with not only a theme, but an entire sonic identity. As they interact, their musics (sounds) collide, blending almost as if mixed by a DJ. In my symphonic music, I have often looked to exotic forms to pull new sounds out of me, whether in an “energy symphony” or an anthology of mythological creatures. In this opera, that happens on the level of character. The music of Steve Jobs is a quicksilver blend of orchestra and whirring electronica, the latter of which was partly built using samples of Mac gear. I wanted Steve’s soundworld to have an authenticity to it, whether through the use of internal machine sounds (spinning hard drives or key clicks) or external sound effects (charming whizzes and beeps). Gary Rydstrom of Skywalker Sound was an indispensable partner on this front, as he created many Mac sounds during his time at Apple in the 1990s. Accompanying Steve is also an acoustic guitar—an instrument whose predecessors appeared quite often in early opera, but one that has rarely been heard in opera houses since. Jobs loved the guitar, and the energetic sound of a fingerpicked steel-string illuminates the busy inner world of a restless man.

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

In fact, Jobs’ search for inner peace is the story of the opera—which, in a sentence, is about a man who learns to be human again. The key role in this journey is his wife Laurene, who acted as the electrical “ground” to the positive and negative charges of Jobs. His buzzing inner energy made for a visionary of Jesus-like charisma, but he could quickly become a cold tyrant. Laurene is a soulful and strong woman who convinces Jobs of the importance of true human connection, the person who reminds him that people don’t have one button: they are beautifully complicated. Her slow-moving, oceanic harmonies collide with the frenetic music of Steve, and ultimately she succeeds in slowing down his busy inner world. 

Another key character is spiritual advisor Kōbun, an important yet overlooked figure who receives stunning treatment by master librettist Mark Campbell. A panoply of Tibetan prayer bowls and Chinese gongs drifts across the electronics, sometimes sounding purely “acoustic,” sometimes imaginatively processed as if in a nirvana-esque limbo. The “mystical bass” trope in opera has a long history (think Sarastro). This opera continues that tradition with the enhanced storytelling of electronic sounds, which eerily blow across the mesmerizing sound of a low bass voice.

Finally, we have Steve Wozniak and Chrisann Brennan, important foils both musically and dramatically. Woz is always trailed by a pair of saxophones, whereas Chrisann is accompanied by hummingbird-like flutes. These two characters know Steve from the early days, and through their eyes we witness his stunning transformation.

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

Anchoring the imaginative, non-chronological storyline are numbers—real musical numbers—and a clear-as-crystal through-line: how can you can simplify human communication onto sleek beautiful devices—when people are so messy? This opera travels with Jobs on his journey from hippie idealist to techno mogul and, ultimately, to a deeper understanding of true human connection.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs plays Feb. 23, 24, 27 and Mar. 2, 6, 8, & 9, 2019 at McCaw Hall. Learn more about this opera by reading our Spotlight Guide. 

A Revolution Comes to Seattle

Mark Cambpell

By Mark Campbell, librettist

The last time I worked with Seattle Opera was about two years ago when the company presented a splendid production of As One, an intimate chamber opera about the emergence of a transgender person that I co-created with Laura Kaminsky and Kimberly Reed.

This opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs, is quite a different animal. About a whole different kind of emergence.

My collaborator Mason Bates chose Jobs as the subject for an opera. While I knew his choice was audacious and potentially treacherous, I also recognized that it was the perfect pairing of a composer to a subject matter, especially considering Mason’s success at bringing electronic music to the orchestra. But as excited as I was about working with Mason, I was initially wary of creating another “bio-opera,” especially about a figure everyone knows (or thinks they know).

How could I create an original (and entertaining) story that might dispel people’s notions—good or bad—about the man? What would opera add to the already well-trampled paths of the books and movies that came before it? What makes the general public so obsessed about a person who may have helped humanize technology but came up pretty short in the human department himself? What makes Steve Jobs, dare I ask, sympathetic?

It started with research. Discovering that Jobs was a Sōtō Zen Buddhist most of his adult life gave me a welcoming entrance into the story. Learning that Buddhists sometimes walk in a meditative circle called a kinhin helped me establish an action in the story—and was also very relevant to Jobs who did the very un-California-like thing of going on long walks to help solve his problems. More of a circular idea emerged when I found out that Buddhist monks often perform the ritual drawing of a round character every day called an ensō.

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

I began to conceive a story in a non-traditional, circular way in which the narrative springs from the afternoon and evening of a day in 2007 when Jobs was likely forced to accept his own mortality and motivated to follow his own advice: “You can’t connect the dots going forward. You can only connect them going backward.” I decided to add a character to accompany Jobs on his backward-looking dot-connecting journey: his own spiritual advisor, Kōbun Chino Otogawa. While this libretto is mostly set on that single day in 2007 and Kōbun inconveniently died in 2002, I chose to honor that old operatic tradition of ghosts…

(A serendipitous side note about Kōbun… I enlisted my friend and librettist Kelley Rourke, creator of Odyssey presented by Seattle Opera's Youth Opera Project, March 1-3. Kelley, is a Buddhist teacher. I asked her to review the libretto to make sure the portrait of the character felt authentic. Since Kelley does not study that particular kind of Buddhism, she suggested I seek help from the Brooklyn Zen Center. I emailed them anonymously and, within an hour, received an inspiring response from Teah Strozer, who was then the Guiding Teacher at the Center. She informed me that she not only studied music at the University of Southern California, but was also a student of Kōbun for many years, and even knew Steve Jobs. Ms. Strozer took the time to read the libretto and her advice about Kōbun was absolutely invaluable.)

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

In his circular path, Jobs’ memories arrive through emotional rather than chronological connections as he reviews the formative influences and events in his life: his exposure to the aesthetics of minimalism in a calligraphy class at Reed College; his vision of a field becoming an orchestra under the influence of acid; his desire to subvert corporate culture in a prank he and Woz played on Ma Bell; the youthful problems of his relationship with Chrisann Brennan; the ego that consumed any joy he had in his work and eventually led to his firing from a company he founded; and finally meeting Laurene Powell, a woman that helped him understand human fallibility.

The “(R)evolution” in the title refers more to the orbicular nature of the narrative than to the revolution in technology Jobs helped hasten. (I also could’ve called the opera The Long Walk of Steve Jobs, but I think new opera is too much of hard sell already to put the word “long” in a title.)

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

(Another sidenote…Sometimes when I got stuck writing this libretto and needed inspiration, I would look back to 1984 and my first experience with my toaster-sized 128k Mac in my toaster-sized East Village apartment above the kitchen of an Indian restaurant. The typefaces, the smiling face graphic, the ease in turning it on and off…these innovations are taken for granted now, but were revolutionary at the time. I became a “Macolyte” pretty early on and it was revisiting those past moments that helped me understand how Jobs democratized the computer.)

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs premiered at Santa Fe Opera and immediately became the biggest hit in the company’s history. Some critics were apoplectic that I hadn’t eviscerated Jobs, that I tried to make him sympathetic and didn’t write their version of the man; some saw operatic Armageddon in the mic’ing of singers. But the critcs’ digs made no difference. The audience was thoroughly engaged and entertained, and, I believe, moved at the end of the opera.

Photo © Ken Howard for Santa Fe Opera, 2017.

However, after we opened and later, following the second production at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, I felt that the opera needed some improvement. The character of Laurene was underwritten; there should’ve been more clarity about Kōbun’s death; and the ending was smudged with too much sentimentality. I changed a phrase here or there, greatly extended one of Laurene’s scenes, and tightened the ending to give it more impact. A Broadway show is performed before an audience for weeks and weeks of previews; new operas are usually given one dress rehearsal with an audience. I was grateful for these chances to improve the libretto—and took them.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs is attracting a new audience to the opera house and that makes me very proud. Seattle Opera was one of the first companies in this country to identify that the old format of producing operas no longer works; that we need new and relevant—and entertaining—operas to prevent this form we love from dying. I couldn’t be more grateful to be here again with another one of my works, albeit very different from the previous one the company produced. I really hope it won’t be too long before I’m back here again.

The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs plays Feb. 23, 24, 27 and Mar. 2, 6, 8, & 9, 2019 at McCaw Hall. Learn more about this opera by reading our Spotlight Guide. 

Seattle Opera offers free tickets to federal workers

Jacob Lucas photo

Seattle Opera is pleased to offer tickets to furloughed federal governments workers. Workers can receive two free tickets to the company’s performances of Il trovatore at 7:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 and 23, and at 2 p.m. on Jan. 20. To redeem, simply present your federal government ID at the McCaw Hall box office before the performance. The box office opens two hours prior to performances; 5:30 p.m. for evening performances and noon for the matinee.

“We at Seattle Opera are grateful for all that our federal workers do, and wish to show our solidarity and thanks by inviting them to enjoy a night of beautiful music at McCaw Hall,” said General Director Aidan Lang.

Seattle Opera’s Il trovatore runs now through Jan. 26 at McCaw Hall.

Praise for Il trovatore

Philip Newton photo

"Stunning production! … So good I rushed out and bought another ticket." - Shayna T. 

"Everyone go and see this! I went for my birthday today and was blown away! One of the best SO productions I've seen, and I've seen a lot of them." - Sofia W.

"I saw this show tonight and after being on the fence about this art form, I am now officially an opera fan." - Sam H.

"Awesome performance today. The audience was totally captivated by the staging and superb voices. Thank you for an unforgettable afternoon." - Ursula S.

Lester Lynch (Di Luna). Philip Newton photo

"The new production of Verdi's Il Trovatore at Seattle Opera packs such a thrilling punch that even my 80-year-old body pumped teenaged adrenalin again and again at Saturday's opening night performance." - Seattle Gay News

"This SO production had the requisite grandeur and musical talent, yet remained fresh." - Oregon Arts Watch

"On Saturday, the opening-night audience heard the resplendent soprano Leah Crocetto (last heard here in the title role of 'Aida') as Leonora, offering some thrilling high notes and a performance that combined power and easy facility. Her Manrico was Arnold Rawls, a dashing actor whose tenor took a while to warm up but rose to the challenge of 'Di quella pira' in fine style." - The Seattle Times

"I am more of a theatre person than an opera person, so when I went to the Seattle Opera on Sunday, I was not looking forward to sitting through the almost 3-hour production of Verdi’s 'Il Trovatore' on a sunny day . . . Then I was blown away! The story of 'Il Trovatore' is difficult, with events happening a generation ago and the entire first scene is one long song just telling us what happened 20 years ago. Snore, right? But no! – the direction and the singers were AMAZING, and that made all the difference. In fact, the singer playing Leonora was so amazing, I think I am now a fan of her. Her name is Angela Meade and when she started to sing, I got chills. She did something I have never heard. It’s called pianississimo, which means 'more than very soft.' She sang the highest notes in the world in the quietest voice I possible, and the effect was mesmerizing. Really. After one aria she got the longest applause with BRAVAs that I’ve ever seen. Also, she is from Centralia, WA, so singing at the Seattle Opera is coming home for her! The opera also dealt with women’s issues interestingly – there is a substantial plot line about witchcraft and burning at the stake. Go SO!" - M.J. McDermott, Q13 News 

Lester Lynch (Di Luna), Leah Crocetto (Leonora), and Arnold Rawls (Manrico). Jacob Lucas photo

"Opening night’s cast featured tenor Arnold Rawls in the title troubadour role, Manrico ... Rawls was in solid form for his big moment at the end of Act 3, unleashing the stirring and prolonged high C that every Trovatore fan anticipates. Rawls played well off powerful mezzo-soprano Elena Gabouri as his mother, the vengeance-crazed Azucena; his Manrico was also a bit unhinged, clearly his mother’s son. His rival, romantically and politically, is the Count di Luna, sounding properly villainous, rough and gruff, as played by Lester Lynch." - Seattle Weekly

"Overall my first venture into McCaw Hall for a performance from the Seattle Opera was highly pleasurable. If you're going for the first time, read up on the show beforehand, allow plenty of time the day or night of the performance, and then go in to the hall with an open mind. I think you'll leave as I did - satisfied." - Eclectic Arts

Elena Gabouri (Azucena). Philip Newton photo

"As the gypsy Azucena, Elena Gabouri (last heard here as Amneris in 'Aida') was a powerful singer and actor who performed with all-out intensity. Baritone Lester Lynch, heard earlier this season as Crown in 'Porgy and Bess,' displayed a wide interpretive range as the villainous Count di Luna: commandingly evil, yet capable of warm subtlety in his aria 'Il balen.'" - The Seattle Times

"Politicians talk about values,when they only care about money. Operas have plots, but the real substance is the music. Il Trovatore inspires a bit of cognitive dissonance. The story is grotesque, but the songs are upbeat and memorable. The vocals are among the most challenging in the world, yet the melodies invite you hum. It’s easy to imagine people waving their mugs in the air as they sing the choruses from Il Trovatore together in the bar a week after seeing the opera."  - Gemma Alexander

"The top performance, by a long shot, was that of soprano Angela Meade. The sheer beauty of her singing had me in tears more than once. Her tone was gorgeous from top to bottom of her considerable range. Her trill shimmered, and her soft high notes floated above the orchestra to perfection. Her acting was fine, but I would probably have enjoyed her performance just as much with my eyes closed." - Seattle Gay News

Angela Meade (Leonora). Philip Newton photo

"In Sunday’s alternate cast, the standout was the thrilling Leonora of Angela Meade, a soprano from Centralia who has won 57 competition prizes and who debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2008. Her beautiful tone quality and her interpretive artistry were capped with an amazing crescendo on the high A-flat at the end of 'D’amor sull’ali rosee' — which met with a showstopping ovation of cheers and whistles." - The Seattle Times

"There were two stars in this show. The first was the orchestra under conductor Carlo Montanaro (I’ll get to the second one in a moment). They were magnificent. You’re not likely to hear a better performance from the pit for Il Trovatore. Montanaro and his musicians seemed to treat Verdi score as if it were a symphony. Every nuance, every subtlety of orchestration was given its due. It was like hearing the music afresh. In many performances of Verdi’s operas the orchestra takes second place to the singers, but not in this one." - Andy Nicastro

"Leah Crocetto sang Leonora, the noblewoman over whom the two clash. Her soprano is uncommonly lovely at low volume—soft and warm, she sounds like cashmere feels—but she can also uncover it to loose easy, airborne high notes. Particularly memorable was her Act 4 aria 'D’amor sull’ali rosee,' miraculously dreamy." - Seattle Weekly

Nora Sourouzian (Azucena). Jacob Lucas photo

"Nora Sourouzian’s Azucena grew steadily in strength and finesse as Sunday’s show went on, and baritone Michael Mayes made a vital, vivid di Luna. John Marzano and Nerys Jones were commendable in their supporting roles as Ruiz and Inez." - The Seattle Times

"The second star of the evening—and really the main one—was Leah Crocetto in the role of Leonora. The night belonged to her. From the moment of her entrance she dominated the show. She has a voice of unique beauty, warmth, and fullness. It easily reached the back rows (where I was sitting) and in its quieter moments it takes on a gentleness and expressiveness which one doesn’t normally get from a singer with that kind of power." - Andy Nicastro

"The always excellent Seattle Opera chorus outdid itself. Not only did it sound terrific, but the choristers threw themselves into physical performance to an extent I've rarely seen. Their challenging slow-motion and stop-action moments were dramatically powerful and showed an amazing level of physical discipline. Kudos to choreographer Kathryn Van Meter and Fight Director Geoffrey Alm for creating those arresting scenes." - Seattle Gay News

"Keeping all their interactions clear and impactful in a notoriously complex story was the laudable achievement of stage director Dan Wallace Miller and supertitle writer Jonathan Dean — though I would be curious to ask someone who doesn’t know the opera how well they grasped it all. Pretty well, I imagine." - Seattle Weekly

Arnold Rawls (Manrico) and members of Seattle Opera's Il trovatore cast. Jacob Lucas photo

"Lester Lynch also shone as the Count di Luna. The Count is a dreary fellow and hard to like, but Lynch made him human and understandable, which is a greater accomplishment than making him likeable. He also brought a sense of vulnerability to the role. At one point he softly sings Leonora’s name with such longing and tenderness it’ll break your heart."  - Andy Nicastro

"Seattle stage director Dan Wallace Miller made his company mainstage debut with this production, presenting an original, effective approach to an opera that requires a great deal of dashing about — duels, battles, deaths, amorous clinches, treachery, avowals of hatred and love, and renunciations. In one key scene, he reduced a chaotic battle to a slow-motion background for the lovers’ crucial real-time interchange: chancy but effective. Miller also made vivid use of 'shadow plays,' backlighted episodes with actors dramatizing the narrative." - The Seattle Times

"Verdi’s Il trovatore has something for everyone: drama, a ridiculous plot, vengeance, battles, and hours of complex melodious music. Beloved by audiences, together they don’t always form a compelling whole. The opera can be difficult to pull off in the theater without both an eye and an ear to how everything should fit together. During its current run with Seattle Opera, an effective aesthetic — combined with an excellent quartet of singers in the main roles — helped to make the best case possible for this complex work." - Seen and Heard International 

Verdi's Il trovatore plays now through Jan. 26 at McCaw Hall. 

A Q&A with Il trovatore's costume designer

Costume Designer Candace Frank 

In high school, Il trovatore's costume designer Candace Frank learned how to sew the clothes she couldn't find on the rack. Fast forward some years, Frank has created a successful career designing costumes for theatre, opera, circus, and burlesque. Her creations utilize an advanced knowledge of fit, mixed with a flair for the theatrical. Frank previously designed at Seattle Opera for Don Giovanni (Young Artists Program), and for The Combat (chamber opera). She has previously led the costume shops at Seattle University, Intiman Theatre, and ACT Theatre. You may have also seen her work onstage with Vespertine Opera, Sound Theatre Company, and Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders.

What’s the time period for this opera?
There is no exact time period; it’s open to your imagination. In the costumes, we reference pre-Renaissance era, some Tudor, and different courtly silhouettes. None of the looks live 100 percent in any time period (there’s even modern camo print for some of the soldiers). Some of the chorus members have jeans on. Some wear newsboy caps. Some have old-fashioned farmer hats. For the peasant class in this opera, it’s really a 200-year span of what working-class people have worn throughout the years. Also, the soldiers wear modern camo print.

For this show, there’s both an Original Set and Costume Designer (John Conklin), and a Costume Designer (you!). Can you tell me about how the costumes came together?
Seattle Opera approached (Stage Director Dan Wallace Miller) to see if he’d direct this opera using an existing production. But Dan likes to reimagine things. He’s not a status quo director, he likes to ask hard questions underlying in the work. In this case, we’re looking at social status. Traditionally, Il trovatore has these “gypsy” characters, which, in our show are simply depicted as peasants instead of Romani people. Working with Dan, I used the existing designs to tell a story with more danger, risk, and humanity

Michael Mayes (Di Luna), Nora Sourouzian (Azucena), and members of the Seattle Opera Chorus. Philip Newton photo

For example, I made the character Di Luna more tough and dangerous-looking. It was also important to me to show the soft romance of Manrico through the costuming. Both the peasants and the soldiers were somewhat clean in this show’s original iteration, so Dan and I decided to add some realness, some distressing, dirtying, and beating to their armor and war garb. This reflects the long war in the story, which both sides lose.

Basically, the original designs provided a launching point. It’s like when someone asks you to create a painting with a specific color palette. It was a fun creative challenge.

You're not exactly a status quo costume designer either, right? 
I usually do the more out-there shows. I hardly ever do the five-white-people-talking-in-a-living-room shows. I love imaginative work such as Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders (which has included characters like giant mice, will have giant musical numbers, and all sorts of crazy stuff). Alternatively, I also design plus-size clothing for my brand, Bawdy Love.

Photo courtesy of Lucia Neare's Theatrical Wonders. 

It also sounds like you and Director Dan Wallace Miller have a fruitful creative partnership. 
Absolutely. Every time I work with Dan, it’s a very collaborative process. Dan, Christopher Mumaw (Associate Set Designer), and I love taking on a show like this, and then the three of us work together to realize a world. It’s not very often you have the chance to create something like that. And it’s one thing that makes opera such an exciting art form to be a part of.

I think Leonora’s Tudor-inspired gowns are going to be crowd-pleasers. Can you talk about her different looks?
She starts off in a beautiful blue gown made of changeable silk. Changeable silk is a fabric that, when they weave it, there’s blue threads going one way, and pink threads going the other. So the color is really dimensional, and while blue, it has a pink and purple sheen to it.

Il trovatore is a story of the haves, and have-nots. And Leonora is part of the class of people that’s oppressing the peasant class. The world of the “haves” is cold, austere, metallic. And Leonora’s second dress is a reflection of that with a black and gray classic Tudor print. The cut of her two gowns are actually identical

What’s your favorite costume in the show, and why?
My favorite costume is Di Luna’s: He wears a floor-length leather cloak made out of three giant cow hides. Each hide was larger than a single work table in our costume shop. It’s got all these beautiful back-seams, and Tudor-style lines to it.

Then he’s got two big armor pauldrons over his shoulders. He’s ready for battle; always ready to kill.

You’ve talked to me about the “haves.” What were your color and texture inspirations for the “have-nots”?
The peasants wear a soft, warm, color palette. We’ve done lots of painting and distressing. The clothes need to look they are heirlooms, handed down through generations, and like the wearer needs every little piece to survive.

Il trovatore costume design by Candace Frank.

Is designing for opera different than with other art forms?
It’s grander, larger. Everything needs to be scaled up because of the theaters that the work is performed in, and also because of the grandness of the stories. In opera, there’s also much greater body diversity than in theater or dance. In opera, it all comes down to what the singers need.

You told me recently that opera is one of the most body-positive art forms. Why is body positivity crucial to costume design and fashion?
Because these stories are meant to be representative of all kinds of people, including people of all colors and sizes. Art, especially opera, represents the real world that we all come from.

Anything else?
The Seattle Opera costume shop is by far the best costume shop I’ve ever worked in. When I recently designed here for The Combat, I was amazed by how quickly after I would draw something it would be actualized in real-life with incredible care and detail. The work they do is incredible art in itself.

Seattle Opera's Il tlrovatore runs Jan. 12-26 at McCaw Hall. 
Tickets & info: seattleopera.org/trovatore

Seattle Opera unveils 2019/20 Season

Hero photography by Philip Newton

With a mix of new and traditional takes on opera, Seattle Opera unveils a 2019/20 Season that offers something for everyone. Audiences will experience new-to-Seattle productions of Rigoletto, Cinderella, and Eugene Onegin; the company premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird; and the return of a beloved classic, La bohème. 

“Seattle Opera is committed to work that resonates with people in the Pacific Northwest,” said General Director Aidan Lang. “In addition to creating transcendent music and theater, we’re excited to have conversations with our community about abuse of power, misogyny, representation in art and entertainment, and more themes illuminated in our upcoming works.”

The 2019/20 Season will also include People of Color in a number of prominent principal roles. The company is being more intentional in seeking a racially diverse talent pool. Racial equity aside, Seattle Opera has earned a reputation for its casting, and its ability to identify some of the industry’s next big stars.

One such rising-star is Angel Blue, who returns in 2020 to sing Mimì in La bohème. Seattleites may recognize the American soprano from last summer’s Porgy and Bess, a performance (as Bess) which earned her a feature in The Stranger’s “Best Performances of 2018” article. Blue, a former Miss America Organization titleholder, also starred in a viral social-media video called “Kids Meet An Opera Singer.” To date, the six-minute video produced by The Cut has garnered more than 11 million views on Facebook.

Lester Lynch, another star of Porgy and Bess and Il trovatore, helps kick off the company’s 2019/20 Season as the title character in Verdi’s action-packed melodrama, Rigoletto (August 10-28, 2019). Even people who have never attended an opera have likely heard Rigoletto’s most popular aria “La donna è mobile” from playing Grand Theft Auto, watching Alvin and the Chipmunks, or that Doritos Super Bowl ad where a baby is slingshotted to steal his brother’s chips. Since its 1851 debut, Rigoletto has been reimagined over and over again. And now, through the vision of Director Lindy Hume, the violence against women in Rigoletto will offer unflinching comparisons to newsmakers of today.

Hume has created thoughtful and entertaining productions for Seattle audiences in the past, including The Wicked Adventures of Count Ory and The Barber of Seville. Following Rigoletto, she’ll return to Seattle yet again to direct Rossini’s Cinderella, Oct. 19–Nov. 1, 2019. With costumes and dances reminiscent of a Tim Burton film, multi-level sets, and a dash of stage magic, this fairy-tale opera includes performances by famous singing siblings Ginger Costa-Jackson (Cinderella) and Miriam Costa-Jackson (Clorinda).

A third sister, Marina Costa-Jackson (Fiordiligi, Così fan tutte) joins her kin for a special, one-night-only Three Singing Sisters concert on Nov. 2 after Cinderella closes. The mixed-genre program will include opera arias, Broadway melodies, popular music, and Neapolitan songs, the sisters’ specialty.

Fast-forward to the New Year: Seattle Opera will present Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin (Jan. 11–25, 2020) for the first time in nearly 20 years. The legendary Nutcracker composer returns to McCaw Hall with an elegant Russian romance based on Alexander Pushkin’s novel. Starring John Moore (Steve Jobs, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs) and Michael Adams (Guglielmo, Così fan tutte) alternating in the title role, Seattle Opera’s traditional production brings opulent nineteenth-century Russia to life.

From a story about 1820s St. Petersburg, Seattle Opera moves to 1950s New York with the company premiere of Charlie Parker’s Yardbird Feb. 22–March, 2020. Still a work of classical music, the opera pulses with jazz-infused melodies created by saxophonist/composer Daniel Schnyder, who tells the story of the legendary tormented jazz and bebop innovator. Finding himself in a sort of purgatory, the ghost of Charlie “Yardbird” Parker (sung by alternating tenors Joshua Stewart and Frederick Ballentine) struggles to complete one last masterpiece. In a series of freeform flashbacks, he revisits the demons, inspirations, and women who have fueled and hindered his creative genius. This intimate portrait of the legendary saxophonist was hailed by audiences and critics alike at its 2015 East Coast premieres.

Finally, the 2019/20 Season concludes with opera’s quintessential love story, La bohème, on May 2–16, 2020. When Rodolfo, a penniless poet, meets Mimì, a seamstress, they fall instantly in love. But their happiness is threatened when Rodolfo learns that Mimì is gravely ill. Puccini’s romantic depiction of bohemian Paris, with wonderful music and a love story drawn from everyday life, has captivated audiences around the world. La bohème includes the return of Will Liverman (Figaro, The Barber of Seville), Brandie Sutton (Clara, Porgy and Bess) and Ginger Costa-Jackson (following her performance as the title character in Cinderella).

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