Phil Kelsey, Seattle Opera's Assistant Conductor, remembered the fantastic fall 1990 Seattle Opera premiere of Rusalka during an intermission chat with Dramaturg Jonathan Dean. Kelsey, who had musically prepared several Seattle Rings during the '80s, has been with the company full-time ever since that Rusalka, and was particularly gratified to watch this great Czech opera—long a personal favorite of his—become part of the standard rep in America.