02 Feb 2005

Seattle Opera Announces 2005/06 Season

[February 1, 2005] Seattle—Seattle Opera’s general director, Speight Jenkins, officially announced the company’s 2005/06 season today. The season opens October 15, 2005, with American composer Jake Heggie’s most recent — and newly revised — opera, The End of the Affair. In January, Seattle Opera presents Johann Strauss, Jr.’s ever-popular operetta, Die Fledermaus, featuring a trio of Wagnerians — soprano Jane Eaglen, tenor Alan Woodrow, and Richard Berkeley-Steele — in a comic turn. Jonathan Miller’s production of Mozart’s Così fan tutte follows in February and March 2006. In May, the season concludes with a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth, bringing together for the first time director Bernard Uzan and designer Robert Israel.


McCaw Hall
Photo: CDi Engineers

[February 1, 2005] Seattle--Seattle Opera's general director, Speight Jenkins, officially announced the company's 2005/06 season today. The season opens October 15, 2005, with American composer Jake Heggie's most recent — and newly revised — opera, The End of the Affair. In January, Seattle Opera presents Johann Strauss, Jr.'s ever-popular operetta, Die Fledermaus, featuring a trio of Wagnerians — soprano Jane Eaglen, tenor Alan Woodrow, and Richard Berkeley-Steele — in a comic turn. Jonathan Miller's production of Mozart's Così fan tutte follows in February and March 2006. In May, the season concludes with a new production of Verdi's Macbeth, bringing together for the first time director Bernard Uzan and designer Robert Israel.

Since Seattle Opera will present Wagner's Ring des Nibelungen in the summer of 2005, the 2005/06 season is a four-opera subscription season rather than the customary five-opera season. Among the artists making Seattle Opera debuts during the 2005/06 season are:

Composer: Jake Heggie (The End of the Affair)

Conductor: Nicola Luisotti (Macbeth)

Director: Leonard Foglia (The End of the Affair)

Set Designer: Michael McGarty (The End of the Affair)

Costume Designer: Jess Goldstein (The End of the Affair)

Lighting Designer: Donald Holder (The End of the Affair)

Sopranos: Sarah Coburn (Adele in Die Fledermaus), Alexandra Deshorties and Jessica Jones (Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Opening Night cast and Sunday/Friday cast respectively), Julie Makerov
(Rosalinde in Die Fledermaus, Sunday/Friday cast), Dana Beth Miller (Sarah Miles in The End of the Affair, Sunday/Friday cast), and Elena Zelenskaya (Lady Macbeth in Macbeth, Sunday/Friday
cast)

Mezzo-Sopranos: Christine Rice and Maria Zifchak (Dorabella in Così fan tutte, Opening Night cast and Sunday/Friday cast respectively).

Tenors: Joseph Calleja (Macduff in Macbeth), Don Frazure (Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Sunday/ Friday cast), and Roger Honeywell (Gabriel von Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Sunday/Friday cast)

Baritones: Zeljko Lucic (Macbeth in Macbeth, Sunday/Friday cast), James Bobick (Maurice Bendrix in The End of the Affair, Sunday/Friday cast), and Brett Polegato (Henry Miles in The End of the Affair)

Bass-Baritone: Valarian Ruminski (Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Sunday/Friday cast)

Bass: Burak Bilgili (Banquo in Macbeth)

Click here for complete press release.