A brand-new opera based on Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, with music by Sheila Silver, libretto by Stephen Kitsakos, and directed by Roya Sadat, premieres at Seattle Opera in February 2023. In this podcast Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean introduces A Thousand Splendid Suns, with musical examples from a 2016 workshop performed by NOVUS NY orchestra, with Steve Gorn on bansuri and Jonathan Singer on tabla, conducted by Sara Jobin and featuring Lucy Fitz Gibbon as Laila, Vira Slywotzky as Nana, Aleksandra Romano as Mariam, Thor Arbjornsson as Tariq, and Ron Loyd as Rasheed.

Saint-Saëns’ grand French opera, not heard in Seattle since 1965, returns January 2023 in a concert production showcasing the breathtaking music of this powerful Old Testament epic. Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean introduces Samson et Dalila, with musical examples drawn from recordings conducted by Louis Fourestier, starring Hélène Bouvier and Paul Cabanel; George Prêtre, starring Rita Gorr, Ernest Blanc, and the René Duclos Chorus; Daniel Barenboim, starring the Orchestre de Paris; Myung-Whun Chung, starring Placido Domingo and the orchestra and chorus of Opéra-Bastille; plus solo recital albums starring Maria Callas and Georges Thill.

Wagner’s revolutionary masterpiece, often considered the most Romantic opera ever written, returns to Seattle Opera in October 2022. Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean introduces Tristan und Isolde, with musical examples from Seattle Opera’s 1998 (starring Jane Eaglen, Ben Heppner, and Michelle DeYoung, conducted by Armin Jordan) and 2010 (conducted by Asher Fisch, with Simeon Esper as the Shepherd and the English Horn solo played by Stefan Farkas) productions, plus 2011 Die Zauberflöte  (conducted by Gary Thor Wedow and starring Philip Cutlip).

A smile full of sunshine comes to Seattle Opera with the return of Donizetti’s endearing comedy. The story of The Elixir of Love concerns the adventures of a bottle of Bordeaux; but the music is as sweet and gentle as the lightest possible tiramisù. Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean introduces The Elixir of Love, with musical examples from Seattle Opera’s 1998 archival recording, starring Rafael Rojas and Vinson Cole as Nemorino, Jane Giering-De Haan as Adina, Jason Howard as Belcore, and Julian Patrick as Dr. Dulcamara. John DeMain conducted the chorus and orchestra of Seattle Opera.

In this ‘listener’s guide’ to one of opera’s favorite comedies, Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean investigates Mozart’s use of some eighteenth-century musical idioms in THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. Musical examples from Seattle Opera Marriage of Figaro productions in 1997 (conducted by Antonello Allemandi, starring Mary Mills); 2009 (conducted by Dean Williamson, starring Marius Kwiecien, Twyla Robinson, Christine Brandes, Arthur Woodley, and Oren Gradus); and 2016, (conducted by Gary Thor Wedow, starring Morgan Smith, Karin Mushegain,  Shenyang, Nuccia Focile, Bernarda Bobro).

General Director Christina Scheppelmann announces Seattle Opera's 2022/23 season, including the great singers who will be coming to Seattle and an exciting lineup of operas: Donizetti's Elixir of Love, Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah, Verdi's La traviata, and the world premiere of A Thousand Splendid Suns by Sheila Silver and Stephen Kitsakos, based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini.

This conversation (recorded live, December 16, 2021) featured ORPHEUS & EURYDICE stage director Chía Patiño, choreographer Donald Byrd, and conductor Stephen Stubbs. The inspiration for the earliest operas, as well as numerous retellings in each new generation, the ancient myth of Orpheus and Eurydice is a reflection on music’s power to express love and sorrow. It is a story that reflects our own time as we come to terms with our collective grief and, like Orpheus, grapple with the pain of letting go.

Stephen Stubbs, conductor of Seattle Opera’s upcoming ORFEO ED EURIDICE, by Gluck, joined us last year for an intermission chat when we rebroadcast Gluck’s IPHIGÉNIE EN TAURIDE. A native Seattleite, student (and professor) at University of Washington, Stubbs has been a leader in the world of early music for three decades. Among the hundreds of recordings he has made, his 2015 DESCENTE D’ORPHÉE AUX ENFERS (by Charpentier) won a Grammy for Best Opera Recording. He first appeared at Seattle Opera in 2007’s GIULIO CESARE, playing theorbo, and conducted our first-ever presentation with music by Monteverdi, 2017’s THE COMBAT. In this conversation Stubbs discusses Gluck with Christina Scheppelmann.

Opera is a big team effort. Every opera production puts hundreds of creative people to work, singing, playing instruments, acting, dancing, crafting and maneuvering sets, costumes, props, and lights and everything else. Backstage at Seattle Opera’s recent LA BOHÈME, Dramaturg Jonathan Dean spoke with several veteran Seattle Opera artisans about their contributions to the show: Mary Seasly (costumes & wardrobe), Brayden Daher (supernumerary), Barry Johnson (comprimario soloist), and Valerie Muzzolini (harp).

“Men die and governments change, but the songs of La bohème will live forever,” wrote Thomas Alva Edison to Giacomo Puccini. Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean introduces La bohème, with musical examples from Seattle Opera’s archival recordings of La bohème: from 2007, with Rosario La Spina (Rodolfo) and Nuccia Focile (Mimì), conducted by Vjekoslav Sutej; and from 2013, with Andrew Garland (Schaunard), Arthur Woodley (Colline), Michael Fabiano (Rodolfo), Keith Phares (Marcello), and Jennifer Black (Mimì), conducted by Carlo Montanaro.