Seattle Opera appoints Kenneth Kellogg inaugural Artistic Ambassador

Kellogg to succeed Scholar-in-Residence Naomi André,
who concludes five-year term in May 2024

Seattle Opera's new Artistic Ambassador, Kenneth Kellogg, as Malcolm X in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X in 2024. © Sunny Martini.

General Director Christina Scheppelmann announced today the appointment of bass Kenneth Kellogg as Seattle Opera’s inaugural Artistic Ambassador. Kellogg, who recently completed a triumphant run as Malcolm X in X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X, takes over for Naomi André, who concludes her impactful five-year term as Seattle Opera’s first Scholar-in-Residence at the end of the 2023/24 season. Kellogg begins in the role in May 2024.

Q&A with Kenneth Kellogg, Seattle Opera’s new Artistic Ambassador

Seattle Opera:
You were just named Seattle Opera’s Artistic Ambassador for the 2024/25 season. How are you envisioning this role as you prepare to step into it?

Kenneth Kellogg:
The first thing this new role makes me think of is my elementary school teacher. As a young person, I could always see how much she loved music—it was infectious. It impacted me as a kid, which led me on a path first to enjoying music, and then to music taking over my life.

I think of my role as Artistic Ambassador as an extension of that. Music has been a blessing to my life in so many ways: it’s what I think of day and night, it helps me provide for my family, it’s taken me to worlds that I never thought possible. I just hope I can exude the same infectious spirit for music and art that my teacher did for me.