Conductor David Afkham on Daphne in Concert

Photo: Rafa Martín

Conductor David Afkham, Artistic Director of the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid and a specialist in the music of Richard Strauss, will make his Seattle Opera debut this January in Daphne in Concert. Seattle Opera recently spoke with Maestro Afkham to ask him about Strauss’s daunting score and how he prepares to conduct a new piece for the first time. 

Have you conducted Daphne before?

I have conducted many Strauss operas but this is my first time conducting Daphne, and that’s part of what makes this production so exciting for me. Strauss’s score is extraordinary—lush, transparent, and emotionally direct—and approaching it for the first time is truly an artistic gift: to discover new colors and connections in the orchestration. It’s a work that demands both great delicacy and great sweep, and discovering that balance together with the cast and orchestra will be surely wonderful. I think the audience will sense that energy: the feeling of a group of artists encountering a masterpiece and bringing it fully to life.

Strauss paints nature in sound—the rustle of leaves, the shimmer of sunlight, the sense of something divine just beneath the surface. The music surrounding Daphne’s transformation is some of the most transcendent he ever wrote.

Daphne is likely unfamiliar to many of our audience members. What do they have to look forward to?

Although Daphne is rarely performed, audiences have a remarkable experience to look forward to. At its core, Daphne is one of Strauss’s most radiant, lyrical scores—a one-act “bucolic tragedy” that feels both intimate and mythic. Listeners who love Der Rosenkavalier or Ariadne auf Naxos will immediately recognize Strauss’s gift for writing long, soaring vocal lines and sumptuous orchestral colors. But Daphne brings a very different emotional palette: it’s more elemental, more mystical, more attuned to nature. Strauss paints nature in sound—the rustle of leaves, the shimmer of sunlight, the sense of something divine just beneath the surface. The music surrounding Daphne’s transformation is some of the most transcendent he ever wrote. Also it is a fast-moving drama: at about an hour and a half, the opera has an unusual clarity and focus. There are no subplots—just a direct, emotionally charged story of innocence, desire, and metamorphosis.

What do you find most compelling about this piece?

Daphne stands out because it blends the human and the mythological so seamlessly. The opera feels like a meditation on our relationship with the natural world—how we long for it, exploit it, and ultimately seek refuge in it. Strauss captures Daphne’s inner life with incredible tenderness; she isn’t a passive mythological figure but a young woman whose purity and convictions set her apart from the world around her. And the ending—her transformation into the laurel tree—is one of the most unforgettable moments in the repertoire. Rather than depicting tragedy through violence or loss, Strauss offers a kind of cosmic transcendence: music that seems to dissolve the boundary between the human voice and the natural world. It’s haunting, elevating, and unlike anything else he wrote.

Strauss captures Daphne’s inner life with incredible tenderness; she isn’t a passive mythological figure but a young woman whose purity and convictions set her apart from the world around her.

Photo: Fadi Kheir.

 What are some of the challenges this score presents?

Daphne is a deceptively demanding score—on the surface it sounds effortlessly lyrical, but achieving that transparency is one of its great challenges. There are a few challenges that stand out:

1. The balance between a large Strauss orchestra and an essentially intimate drama
   
   Strauss writes with a huge palette, yet the emotional core of Daphne is fragile and inward. The challenge is to maintain orchestral richness without overwhelming the singers, especially Daphne, whose lines are often ethereal and exposed. Achieving that balance requires constant sensitivity.
   
   
2. Long, continuous arcs with very few natural “breaks”
   
   The opera moves almost without interruption. For the conductor, this means carefully controlling large-scale pacing: tension and release, breath and flow. It’s an hour and a half of uninterrupted storytelling, and the architecture has to feel inevitable.
   
   
3. Extreme demands on the soprano and tenor
   
   Daphne’s role is notoriously difficult—high, sustained, and relentlessly lyrical, often sitting in the most delicate part of the voice. Leukippos and Apollo require brilliant, heroic singing over heavy orchestral writing. Balancing ensemble, giving singers room to bloom, and supporting stamina across the evening is a major task.
   
   
4. Transparent textures that leave no room to hide
   
   Unlike some of Strauss’s denser scores, Daphne depends on clarity. Woodwind lines must speak, string textures must shimmer, and harmonic shifts must feel weightless. If anything is even slightly out of tune or out of balance, the spell breaks.
   
   
5. The final transformation scene
   
   This is one of the most extraordinary passages Strauss ever wrote—and also one of the hardest. It demands perfect control of orchestral color, a sense of inevitability in the tempo, and an atmosphere that feels both human and sublime. Creating that sound-world is a challenge I love: everything has to align so that Daphne’s metamorphosis feels transcendent rather than merely pretty.
   

Although this is your Seattle Opera debut, you have conducted the Seattle Symphony on multiple occasions. What have you liked about working with that orchestra in the past?

I have always loved working with the Seattle Symphony because they bring an ideal combination of technical refinement and artistic curiosity. They’re a group that listens deeply to one another, which makes it possible to shape long musical lines and subtle dynamic gradations. They are also very flexible: they show a remarkable ability to shift style, adapt their sound, and commit fully to the aesthetic world of the music.

And on a more personal level, I’ve always felt a genuine warmth from the players. There’s a sense of shared purpose in the room—a feeling that everyone is invested in making the performance special. That kind of atmosphere inspires you as a conductor; it lets you take risks, explore different colors, and bring out the character of the score in a very collaborative way. So stepping into my Seattle Opera debut feels less like arriving somewhere new and more like reconnecting with an artistic community I already admire.

Daphne in Concert runs for two performances, January 16 & 18, 2025. Tickets and information at seattleopera.org/daphne.