Opera’s sensational sisters bring sibling revelry to McCaw Hall

Marina, Miriam and Ginger Costa-Jackson. Photo by Amy Fae 

Seattle Opera presents ‘Three Singing Sisters’ concert featuring Ginger, Marina, and Miriam Costa-Jackson 

One night only: Nov. 2
McCaw Hall
Tickets start at $35

For the Costa-Jackson sisters, singing isn’t just a passion, it’s a family business. Ginger, Marina, and Miriam Costa-Jackson—all recent or upcoming performers with Seattle Opera—are offering a special, one-night-only concert at McCaw Hall on Nov. 2. Audiences can expect an entertaining mix of opera, Broadway, and Neapolitan hits from these glamorous Sicilian-Americans. Each a rising star in her own right, the singers are especially memorable when performing together.

“Technically we have three different voice types: mezzo, full-lyric soprano, and coloratura soprano,” said Ginger Costa-Jackson. “But our different colors and strengths complement each other and create a very natural blend. It’s like a Neapolitan ice cream, except we are Sicilian!"

A message to our community from President Brian Marks

Seattle Opera's civic home, The Opera Center. Sean Airhart photo

Dear Seattle Opera Community,

Before a new arts season ramps up this fall, I want to take a moment to reflect on the past year. As you know, Seattle Opera has a proud history as a change-maker in the arts. It was our founding artistic director Glynn Ross who said in 1969, “We are not custodians of the old order. We are not curators of establishment art. We must be oriented towards the future. It is our business to improve the quality of life. We had better become positive and not just stand by.”

Seattle Opera continues to hold those words true to our daily work fifty years later. We tell stories to celebrate our rich traditions, while speaking to our world today. We use opera to engage in civic dialogue with our diverse community.

Here are a few recent examples of Seattle Opera’s success that I’d love to share with you.

Cinderella lights up the stage with vocal fireworks

Wallis Giunta as Cinderella. Photo courtesy of Opera Leipzig 

When stage director Lindy Hume last worked at Seattle Opera, her powerful Rigoletto sparked important #MeToo conversations with a story intended to be devoid of hope. Next up, she’s bringing something completely different to McCaw Hall—a sparkling fairy tale that families will fall in love with. 

“When Rossini composed his Cinderella (La Cenerentola), the alternative title was Goodness Triumphant,” Hume said. “Cinderella ends in a blaze of optimism, which is sorely needed in these times. This show is joyful, quirky, and led by a feisty heroine whose defining character is her goodness.”

Hume’s upcoming production stars audience favorite Ginger Costa-Jackson (Carmen in Seattle Opera’s 2019 Carmen) alternating with Canadian mezzo-soprano Wallis Giunta (company debut) as the title character. Inspired by the whimsical worlds of Charles Dickens and Tim Burton, Hume sets the familiar classic in and around an emporium filled with multi-level sets, unexpected twists, and Victorian-era costumes, including two jewel-encrusted ball gowns for the heroine. But this fairytale isn’t Disney

Rossini’s original Cinderella

Gertrude Righetti Giorgi (1793-1896) was a contralto and the first to sing the heroine in Rossini’s Cinderella (La Cenerentona). According to Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto by Dan H. Marek, her voice was “full, powerful, and of rare extension, rising from F below the staff to B-flat above it.” Righetti Giorgi had a short career, retiring in 1822 because of ill health, but she created the leading roles in two of the immortal masterpieces of the Italian lyric stage: Rosina in The Barber of Seville and the title role in Cinderella, which premiered on January 25, 1817.

Righetti Giorgi was a spirited advocate for Rossini, and in turn, Rossini appreciated her ideas and strength of character. Righetti Giorgi in fact convinced Rossini to convert an aria that had been written for Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville into Cinderella’s famous celebration of forgiveness, “Non più mesta” (“No Longer Sad”).

Lindy Hume, Stage Director of Seattle Opera's upcoming Cinderella describes Rossini as a composer who was known to portray dimensional, interesting women:  

Cinderella: Disney vs. Rossini

Left: Disney's Cinderella. Right: "Cinderella," San Diego Opera, 2016 © J. Katarzyna Woronowicz Johnson.

Rossini's opera Cinderella (which comes to Seattle Opera this fall), might be a little different than the one you're used to. The narrative familiar to many Americans comes from the 1950 Disney cartoon, which took its inspiration: fairy godmother, transformed pumpkin, glass slipper, midnight spell and all, from Charles Perrault’s 1967 Cendrillon (Rossini was also inspired by Perrault, however, conscious of his theater producer's budget, the composer avoided expensive magic and transformation scenes).⁣

New chamber opera shares true stories from U.S. military

Photo by Ziggy Mack

Working with military veterans, Seattle Opera brings service and sacrifice to the stage. In partnership with Path with Art, The Falling and the Rising features chorus of former soldiers 

Nov. 15, 17, 20, 22, & 24, 2019
The Opera Center: 363 Mercer St.
General admission: $45 | Military discount: $35
Tickets & info: seattleopera.org/rising


When Seattle Opera opened the doors to its new facility at Seattle Center last year, the company promised that the new, highly visible location would help more people find and experience opera. This fall, the company’s first chamber opera in the building is sure to do just that. The Falling and the Rising, a new American work, is based upon a series of interviews with returning soldiers at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, The Old Guard at Fort Myer, and Fort Meade, Maryland.

“Through our chamber operas, Seattle Opera has offered powerful narratives and important moments of representation: a transgender woman’s journey, one family impacted by Japanese American incarceration, a queer love story, and more,” said Alejandra Valarino Boyer, Seattle Opera Director of Programs and Partnerships. “This fall, we present a new chamber opera based on powerful testimonials from American soldiers whose stories often go untold.”

Listen now to our Cinderella podcast

Photo courtesy of Oper Leipzig

Curious to learn more about Rossini's masterpiece, Cinderella (La Cenerentola)? Here's an excerpt of a recent Seattle Opera podcast hosted by Dramaturg Jonathan Dean:

"When introducing Rossini's opera Cinderella (La Cenerentola) it's almost easier to tell you what it's not than what it is. It's not the Cinderella you know from Walt Disney, with a fairy godmother, a pumpkin that turns into a magic carriage, a glass slipper, and an impossibly idealized female lead. This story is much more about human behavior.

Although musically, Rossini's Cinderella and The Barber of Seville are similar, the humor in Cinderella isn't nearly as anarchic or as juvenile as in The Barber of Seville. Unlike that opera, in this one, the hero and heroine actually get to sing a love duet. There's an adorable meet-cute scene for Cinderella and her prince—he's disguised as a servant because he wants to find a woman who loves him for who himself and not for his money. It's love at first sight, Italian style where it's both super sexy and sweetly innocent. Imagine two young Italians discovering each other ... Rossini casts the prince, Don Ramiro, as a high tenor and Cinderella, a mezzo (technically at the first performance, a contralto), their voices almost overlap.

The journey here, the journey ahead

Seattle Opera General Director Christina Scheppelmann. Photo by Philip Newton.

By Christina Scheppelmann

I took the long road to Seattle. It began in Hamburg, Germany, weaving through far flung places like Barcelona, Washington D.C., and Muscat. As a woman, in an industry where decisions remain too often dominated by men, it took determination and strength and there were many obstacles along the path that brought me to this place and position. After a busy first month here I wanted now to briefly share how I intend to lead, lifting up, supporting and encouraging those still struggling down that same road.

Like many women in my generation, I felt enormous pressure to adapt in a man’s world.  When I was entering the workforce, I saw how men set the rules and doled out punishments for those who didn’t conform to their standards, in all industries, not just opera. Advancement only took place on their terms.  It was necessary to project toughness.  There are many parts of that experience that I hope today’s young professionals will never ever have to face.

I am now privileged enough to enjoy the chance to reflect and rededicate myself to what remains to be changed in our operatic system.  There is a lot we must do.  One of the reasons I wanted to come to Seattle, to this company, was out of a belief that this is a city with an enormous hunger and ability to catalyze that change. For example, through its racial equity work and programming to serve people of all backgrounds statewide, Seattle Opera is building a future that better represents us all. This is the kind of work—the kind of legacy—that matters to me as a leader, and as a human being.