Seattle Opera Blog

What to listen for during the Ring broadcast

2021-02-04T17:32:00.015-08:00

Stephanie Blythe (Fricka) and Greer Grimsley (Wotan). Chris Bennion photo

Whether you're new to opera or a longtime fan, we hope you will tune in to enjoy our special broadcast of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle this February 2021! Tune in to Classical KING FM 98.1 or king.org to enjoy a 2005 recording of the four-day opera. This “cycle” includes: Das Rheingold on Feb. 6, Die Walküre on Feb. 9, Siegfried on Feb. 11, and Götterdämmerung on Feb. 13.

Enjoy these fun facts surrounding the 2005 Ring—plus tips on what to listen for—when you tune in!

- At 10 a.m. this Saturday in Das Rheingold, be prepared to hear nothing but E-flat for several minutes! This note depicts the creation of the world, slowly evolving from the lowest-ever note on double-bass (the instrument used to go down only to E-natural; Wagner decided to start his epic with E-flat ‘cause it’d be the lowest note anyone had ever heard!).

- The Danish bass who sang Fasolt the giant, Stephen Milling, was over 6’6” in real life. Our Costume Shop didn’t need to work very hard to help him look larger-than-life!

- Mid-Das Rheingold, before noon this Saturday, listen for all the anvils in the percussion section when they go down to the mines of Nibelheim.

- According to some, Ewa Podles as Erda in Rheingold stole the show; a reviewer compared her voice to Mt. Rainier, towering over all of Seattle.

- Das Rheingold concludes with the music of “Entrance of the gods into Valhalla,” full of harps and the whole orchestra shimmering like a rainbow.

- In Die Walküre (at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 9) the well-known orchestral highlights are the beginning and end of Act 3, first the “Ride of the Valkyries” and then the “Magic Fire Music.” But Act 1 is one of the most perfect dramatic shapes ever to appear on any stage, and Act 2 is a miraculous masterpiece.

Fafner (Fluffy) confronts Siegfried (Alan Woodrow); Rozarii Lynch photo

- About an hour into Die Walküre Act 2 Brünnhilde appears to Siegmund for the stately and terrifying “Annunciation of Death” scene. Wagner stole the noble melody here from an opera called Hans Heiling by Heinrich Marschner.

- "For the first minutes of Siegfried, (Thursday, Feb. 11), Steven Goldstein, in a bear suit, came onstage as the Bear," says Seattle Opera Dramaturg Jonathan Dean. "He was a wonderful tenor who was also covering the important role of Mime—performed by Tom Harper, who’d also sung Mime at our ’95 and ’01 Ring.

Gordon Hawkins (Gunther), Alan Woodrow (the dead Siegfried), and Marie Plette (Gutrune); Bill Mohn photo

- Götterdämmerung (on Saturday, Feb. 13) is full of fantastic orchestral passages, including Siegfried’s Rhine Journey & Funeral March (also known as “Trauermusik”).

- For 2005, we restaged the ending of Götterdämmerung completely, since in McCaw Hall we could use a trap door. (No trap in the old Seattle Opera House, where the production premiered in 2001.) A flying Rhine daughter kicked Hagen into the trap—he fell into oblivion—and a few seconds later a Valhalla set flew in and a platform rose up out of the trap with all the gods standing on it. Wotan gave Loge the signal: “Torch this place,” and fire shot up out of Loge’s hand just as the fire music started to burn down the world. The final tableau, for the last minute of music was a vision, drawn from the ancient poem “Voluspa” in the Elder Edda, of the forest renewing itself as the cycle of nature continues.

Marie Plette (Gutrune); Chris Bennion photo

During the upcoming Ring broadcasts, listeners will also be able to hear intermission chats featuring Christina Scheppelmann, General Director; Jonathan Dean, Dramaturg; Paul Rafanelli, Bassoon; Jeannie Wells Yablonsky, Violin; Connie Yun, Lighting Designer; Tim Buck, Master Stage Carpenter (& RING Flight & Fire Director); Kathy Boyer, Violin; Mark Robbins, Horn; Yasmine Kiss, Stage Manager; Cris Reynolds, Assistant Stage Manager; Phil Kelsey, Assistant Conductor; Kristina Murti, Director of Marketing, and Alicia Moriarty, Assistant Production Director.

Special thanks to Nikhil Sarma, the KING FM audio engineer who’s been organizing all our opera re-broadcasts.

To learn more about the upcoming Ring cycle broadcasts, go seattleopera.org/kingfm.

Notes on the 2005 Ring

2021-02-03T11:39:00.007-08:00

Das Rheingold Scene 1: Jennifer Hines (Flosshilde), Mary Phillips (Wellgunde), Wendy Hill (Woglinde), and Richard Paul Fink (Alberich) are thrilled when the sunlight strikes the gold in the bed of the Rhine River. Rozarii Lynch photo

By Melinda Bargreen

Seattle Opera’s Ring was the reason I became the classical music critic of The Seattle Times (for 31 years; I’m still freelancing).

In 1975, my husband and I saved up our pennies, and bought two second-balcony tickets to Götterdämmerung when Ring I was presenting the cast in furs and horned helmets, and there were no supertitles for the German-language production. Thrilled to the marrow by the performance, I eagerly awaited the review in the suburban newspaper where we live. The critic hated the show. It was too long, he said; it was boring … and it was all in German, “Gotterdammerit!”

Incensed, I got up my nerve and phoned the editor to complain about the review.

“Why don’t you send me what you would have written?” the editor asked.

I did, and I was assigned to review all the Seattle Opera productions. One review led to another; soon the classical music critic job opened up at The Seattle Times, when the critic/editor decided to focus on theater, and in 1977 I got the job of a lifetime. (Hint: They pay you for going to the opera and concerts, and writing what you think afterward. What could be better?)

Looking back on the whole jewelry store of Rings, the 2005 version ranks around the top of my personal favorites so far. The arch-traditional Ring I (whose Götterdämmerung I heard on that fateful career-defining evening) was followed by the more avant-garde Ring II, resulting in hot debates among Wagnerian fans. But in Ring III (first presented in 2001), general director Speight Jenkins and the company created something particularly special. Quickly dubbed the “Green Ring,” it was beautiful to look at (those forested, craggy Thomas Lynch sets!) and even more beautiful to hear, as several unforgettable singers made their mark.

Bargreen saved her 2005 Ring program and tickets.

And now, we get to hear this Ring again—for free, thanks to KING FM and Seattle Opera. Of all the operas that adapt well to a radio broadcast, it’s this four-opera cycle, which consists mainly of long, in-depth conversations and soliloquies where not much happens on the stage. Not that you care, when the music is this glorious.

Among the standouts in the 2005 cast: Greer Grimsley, who was a noble and vital Wotan. As Fricka, his wife, Stephanie Blythe sang with both passion and depth; Alan Woodrow was a lyrical, stalwart Siegfried; Richard Paul Fink was a most menacing Alberich. Ewa Podlés gave Erda both resonant power and depth. (Podlés and Blythe also were double-cast as Norns, alongside the excellent Margaret Jane Wray. It was a highly impressive trio.)

Seattle had already heard the unforgettable mega-soprano Jane Eaglen as Brünnhilde. Now she was back, and excitement was high. In one interview, Eaglen told me, “This is the music I was born to sing. It fits me like a glove. She (Brünnhilde) is the character who is most like me and closest to my heart.”

That didn’t mean it was easy.

"No matter how well suited this music is to your voice, and no matter how well prepared you are," Eaglen said then, "this is still really hard. It's a big `sing,' a tremendous challenge. I want to come to every performance fresh and excited. I won't sing it any other way."

Eaglen was amazing: totally in command of every line, noble of voice and bearing, tireless and mighty in her power and passion. I’ll always count myself lucky that I heard her in her absolute prime, in a role she was born to sing.

And now, radio audiences will get to hear Eaglen at the height of her powers, once again.

Die Walküre Act 2: Jane Eaglen (Brünnhilde) announces his imminent death to Siegmund (Richard Berkeley-Steele), who refuses to abandon Sieglinde (Margaret Jane Wray). Bill Mohn photo

Of course, Eaglen was not the only standout. Jenkins assembled a cast that had strength throughout the spectrum of roles, from Stephen Milling’s menacing Hunding to Thomas Harper’s wily Mime and Richard Berkeley-Steele’s noble Siegmund. Gordon Hawkins was a tragically conflicted Gunther; Nancy Maultsby had some fine moments as Waltraute. Stephen Wadsworth’s imaginative staging created a scene with the three Rhinemaidens and Siegfried that worked better than in any production I’ve seen. None of the magic of the Ring would have been possible without Robert Schaub’s work as technical director. Robert Spano conducted with energy and urgency, letting “America’s Wagner Orchestra” rip, but also ably supporting his singers. And behind every moment of this Ring was the presiding genius of Speight Jenkins.

Just writing about this production fills me with nostalgia, and also with worry. At this point in the pandemic, the thought of performing full-scale opera—much less a Ring—seems frighteningly distant.

But we have the radio airwaves, to revisit past triumphs and lift our hearts toward better futures. Great opera has survived cataclysms and world wars and epidemics and the fall of dictators. The Ring will rise again.

Das Rheingold Scene 2: Marie Plette (Freia), Gidon Saks (Fafner), and (far right) Stephanie Blythe (Fricka) look on as Greer Grimsley (Wotan) stops Donner (Gordon Hawkins) from attacking the giants. Rozarii Lynch photo

To learn more about the upcoming Ring cycle broadcasts, go seattleopera.org/kingfm.

Enjoy the RING on KING FM

2021-01-25T12:10:00.007-08:00

Wagner’s Das Rheingold, 2005 © Rozarii Lynch

Enjoy Seattle Opera’s internationally beloved Ring cycle broadcast on Classical KING FM 98.1 or king.org at 10 a.m., Feb. 6 (Das Rheingold) 7 p.m., Feb. 9 (Die Walküre), 7 p.m., Feb. 11 (Siegfried), 10 a.m., and Feb. 13 (Götterdämmerung). Learn more at seattleopera.org/kingfm.

Seattle Opera will offer a broadcast of its most popular production of all time—Richard Wagner’s Ring cycle this February. Tune in to Classical KING FM 98.1 or king.org to enjoy a 2005 recording of the four-day opera. This “cycle” includes: Das Rheingold on Feb. 6, Die Walküre on Feb. 9, Siegfried on Feb. 11, and Götterdämmerung on Feb. 13.

From 1973 to 2013, Seattle Opera built a reputation for its grand presentations of Wagner’s Ring. Bringing in fans from all over the world, Seattle’s production received acclaim from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Opera News. For many people, going to Seattle for the Ring became like any beloved annual pilgrimage, like Burning Man or Santa Fe Opera—or Disneyland. Now, diehard Wagnerians, as well as newcomers to opera, can give their pandemic listening an epic upgrade with this exclusive radio broadcast

“We’ve had many memorable Rings in Seattle, but this 2005 production was special and one to remember,” said General Director Christina Scheppelmann. “It includes some of the greatest singers you could wish for in a Ring cycle and some of the best this company has ever known. These artists are singing at their peaks and recorded at a high-quality level. I hope you tune in this February and enjoy!”

The 2005 recording stars Jane Eaglen (Brünnhilde), Greer Grimsley (in his debut performance as Wotan), Alan Woodrow (Siegfried), Richard Paul Fink (Alberich), Margaret Jane Wray (Sieglinde/Third Norn), Richard Berkeley-Steele (Siegmund), Stephanie Blythe (Fricka/Second Norn), Ewa Podleś (Erda/First Norn), Peter Kazaras (Loge) and Gordon Hawkins (Donner/Gunther), among others. The performance was conducted by Robert Spano, music director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and directed by Stephen Wadsworth, Head of Operatic Studies at The Juilliard School and a Staff Director of the Metropolitan Opera. Matthew Sutton, audio engineer, helped to create the recording.

Greer Grimsley (Wotan) in Wagner’s Das Rheingold, 2005 © Bill Mohn

Speight Jenkins, Seattle Opera General Director from 1983–2014 singled out Jane Eaglen’s Brünnhilde for praise: “Ms. Eaglen brought to the part a marvelous voice, complete dedication to the Ring, good diction, and a desire to do exactly what the director and conductor wanted,” Jenkins said. “She was an anchor to the whole cast: a great artist with a superb voice and a real feeling for the personality of Brünnhilde. We were more than fortunate to have her in that role.”

Seattle Opera is not only continuing to produce streaming operas for subscribers and single-ticket buyers. The company is prioritizing free content such as the Ring broadcast on KING FM, radio broadcasts of other operas, and recitals that can be enjoyed on social media. During the pandemic, more than 240,000 listeners have enjoyed a Seattle Opera/KING FM broadcast, and the company has presented 18 free recitals featuring popular company singers.

Jane Eaglen (Brünnhilde) in Wagner’s Die Walküre, 2005 © Chris Bennion

“All of us at KING FM have been thrilled to work in close partnership with Seattle Opera to ensure our opera fans can hear performances by the organization they love,” said Brenda Barnes, KING FM CEO. “We are grateful to the Opera and the unions for making it possible for us to broadcast The Ring in its entirety.”

Learn more about Seattle Opera’s upcoming offerings at seattleopera.org.

Now Available on iTunes: Seattle Opera's 2013 Ring!

2014-09-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

It's here! Enjoy the Mastered for iTunes digital download of Seattle Opera’s complete recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen. Our stunning 2013 production, called “Better than ever” by Opera News and “the company’s strongest performance yet of the epic” by Seattle Weekly was recorded with the latest state-of-the-art microphones and lovingly mastered in high definition sound.

CLICK HERE to link to the iTunes store.

Available exclusively from iTunes: the first Ring to come with an iTunes LP, a deluxe download package, complete with full libretti of all four operas in original German with English translations; photos and videos of Seattle Opera’s 2013 production, much lauded for its “Technicolor© brilliance and sylvan detail”; articles by Speight Jenkins and historical information; detailed production credits; and more. Also available as a 14-cd set from Seattle Opera's shop and at record stores worldwide.

Our 2013 Ring, Now on CD!

2014-06-26T09:21:00.001-07:00

Wagner-lovers of the world, rejoice!

We’re giddy with excitement to announce Seattle Opera’s first-ever live audio recording: our fantastic Der Ring des Nibelungen from last summer.

Everyone seems to agree that our 2013 Ring was one for the history books.

General Director Speight Jenkins (who steps down this August after three decades at his post) felt the production was some of the company's best work. “By every measure: voices, orchestra, drama, audience excitement, I truly feel that the 2013 production was the best Ring I produced in my 31 years with the company," he said.

The press agreed.

Opera News said the 2013 production was “better than ever,” and according to Seattle Weekly it was “the company’s strongest performance yet of the epic." The Seattle Times wrote: “Powerful singing, compelling drama, and a surging, urgent orchestra lifted this Ring into the realm of legend: This is a production people will be talking about for a long time to come.”

Speight is thrilled that the recording will, in a way, preserve this memorable show. He explained that the state-of-the-art technology used in recording the 2013 production does justice to what audiences heard in McCaw Hall.

“Traditional microphones can compress or distort the huge voices required in Wagner operas," he said. "We were blessed to use a remarkable, specially-calibrated custom microphone made available by Meyer Sound, one that captures dramatic voices as the theater audience hears them.”

The 14-CD box set of this live recording includes a 54-page booklet featuring full-color production photos, essays, and artist biographies, as well as four separate libretti of the four operas in the original German with Stewart Spencer’s English translation.

The entire package is available for pre-sale exclusively at seattleopera.org/RingCD starting June 25, and retails for $150. If you want to support Seattle Opera, please pre-order! Your Ring CD set will be shipped in August. The commercial release, including for iTunes, is set for September 9. The iTunes release will be mastered for iTunes and offered as an interactive LP with bonus visuals and content.

Conducted by the great Asher Fisch, the recording stars Greer Grimsley, Alwyn Mellor, Stefan Vinke, Stephanie Blythe, Stuart Skelton, Margaret Jane Wray, Richard Paul Fink, Daniel Sumegi, Andrea Silvestrelli, Dennis Petersen, and many others, and features the Seattle Symphony and the Seattle Opera Chorus.

Backstage at last summer's Ring: Rick Fisher, Asher Fisch, Speight Jenkins, Matthew Sutton, and Evans Mirageas
Alan Alabastro, photo

Evans Mirageas, Artistic Director of Cincinnati Opera, produced the recording. Mirageas said that being asked to assist Speight Jenkins, the technical team, and all the artists associated with Seattle Opera in this project was a dream come true.

"From my fervid teenage Wagnerian obsessive days of listening to the (then still new) Solti Ring on London/Decca, I have loved this Mount Everest of opera," said Mirageas. "While I never met the legendary Decca producer John Culshaw whose masterwork was the Solti recording, I was his successor at Decca as the head of artists and repertoire but one. I inherited from his protégé Ray Minshull the small brass dragon that was Culshaw’s talisman throughout the Ring recording years. I kept it nearby in this past year or recording and post-production. It has been a privilege and a joy to be a happy Nibelung in this enterprise.”

Evans Mirageas and Fafnerino
Evans Mirageas, photo

This Ring recording was made possible with the cooperation of Seattle Opera’s collective bargaining unions: American Guild of Musical Artists AFL-CIO; IATSE Local 15, 488 and 887; and the Seattle Symphony and Opera Players’ Organization, a chapter of the International Guild of Symphony, Opera, and Ballet Musicians. Seattle Opera would like to thank executive producers David J. and Linda A. Cornfield for their belief in this project. Recorded live at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, August 2013, by Matthew Sutton & Rick Fisher; edited, mixed and mastered at RFI Mastering by Matthew Sutton and Rick Fisher. The 2013 Ring was made possible by the Valhalla Sponsor, Nesholm Family Foundation / John F. and Laurel Nesholm; the Festival Sponsor, Lufthansa; with additional support by the Carol Franc Buck Foundation.

RETURNING TO THE RING: Michael Moore, Scenic Studios Manager

2013-08-23T09:20:00.000-07:00

Michael Moore, Seattle Opera’s Scenic Studios Manager, has been making Seattle Opera’s sets come true for the past 34 years. We talked about the challenges of the current Ring set, the dragon (of course!), and some of his favorite Ring memories.

This production—so often called the “green” Ring—is known for its beautiful naturalistic scenery. What’s most challenging about representing nature in a set?
Nature has had millions to billions of years of opportunity to make things tricky and complex and pays no attention to time or budget for that matter. We have to evolve our scenery in weeks or months at best.

It is also difficult to make things chaotic. With an organic shape or form, it’s difficult to avoid obvious repeating patterns. Some of the art is being able to step back and assess what you’re doing.

What are the trees made of in the ridge terrain set?
If you’ve ever tried to lift up a tree, you know they’re pretty heavy, and our set, of course, has to be lightweight and portable. People like you and me have to be able to pick them up and move them into and out of a truck and get them to and from the stage. So the question was: how to make a forest that’s featherweight but that looks very convincing. In this case, we used the aircraft industry from the ’20s and ’30s as a model: we stretched Dacron fabric (used to cover the wings of antique airplanes) over a super lightweight aluminum frame. Then we apply Vacuform plastic bark and aluminum twigs. In the end, the trees are little more than paint.

The forest of Das Rheingold's "Ridge Terrain" set
Elise Bakketun photo

Can you give an example of how a design idea evolves—from designer to scenic studio to stage?
You have to start with a piece of paper and sketch up how you’re going to do it, which goes back to the question of what does the director want to do? What does he have in mind? Can you storyboard out the action? Just about any of these challenges start with a plan of action from the point of view of the stage director. The designer then provides an illustration of what it might look like, but ultimately, what the set has to do and physically be comes across my desk out here. So I find out everything I can and stay awake several nights. The ideas don’t come to me at two o’clock in the afternoon; it’s more like 3 a.m.

Do you keep a notebook by your bed?
I keep a digital recorder. When I’m deep into a project, I can roll over, punch the button, and in the middle of the night jot down the idea I’ve been dreaming about and then I can go back to sleep. That’s a regular occurrence in my life. I guess you could say I have a dream job.

Brünnhilde's ledge in Götterdämmerung
Elise Bakketun photo

And it’s always something new.
Virtually everything we’ve built is a prototype. The designer brings the design to us—this is something that nobody has asked us to design before—and we need to get it done on time on budget and trot it out on the stage and lift up the curtain before three thousand people, hoping with our fingers crossed that it works the first time.

We can’t talk about the Ring set without talking about the dragon! How many dragons have you made for Seattle Opera?
There was the Ring from the ’70s, which was the John Naccarato design we first produced. Then the Bob Israel dragons: the first one was larger than the building so all we saw was a giant claw. There were a couple other versions—and quite different versions—in the course of that show. Then we’ve done dragons for other companies. So our current dragon is at least the seventh dragon that I’ve had a substantial hand in.

Stefan Vinke (Siegfried) consoles the dying Fafner
Elise Bakketun photo

For photos of the new dragon Michael Moore and the Seattle Opera Scenic Studios created for our neighbors at the Experience Music Project, CLICK HERE.

Where is the RING set stored?
When it’s not at the opera house, it joins the rest of our scenic inventory of 30 or so operas that we store in the warehouse down in Kent Valley. All of those shows except for the Ring are rented out to other opera companies. So they’re really all over the world.

What kind of work do you need to do to get the Ring set ready again?
Needless to say, there’s some wear and tear that occurs to all these things, so at the end of the run, it goes back into the warehouse, and we work the repair into our schedule. Take the dragon, for instance. Siegfried does a little battle with the tail of Fafner when he comes across it in the cave, and the dragon can’t really fight back. He can wiggle the tail a little bit, but he suffers every blow, and when it’s time to put him back on the stage, it’s time to patch up his tail. So over the last couple of months we brought the tail out here and fit it around other projects.

What is everyone working on now?
Right now everything is on the stage. We wrapped up our work on the Ring with the tail of the dragon about two weeks ago.

Siegfried and the Rhine Daughters on the "Gorge" set
Elise Bakketun photo

How long did it take originally to build this Ring set?
Before the curtain hit the deck on the Bob Israel Ring for the last time in 1995, I think Speight had already spoken with Tom Lynch as a designer and Stephen Wadsworth and started that ball rolling. There were a couple years spent in the conceptual phase, and then we spent about two years in the shop.

How many trucks does it take to load in the Ring set?
About 60.

Do you have a favorite scene?
Of course I have a particular fondness for the dragon. In fact any number of friends have come up over the years and said, “You know that Fafner is so wonderful. Couldn’t he win just once?”

Do you have any favorite memories from the Ring?
One of my favorite moments that perhaps the audience could appreciate was during the Bob Israel Ring. Off stage left is a room that we call the prop room, and that’s where Wotan’s spear lives and Nothung and all the stuff that gets chopped in half. One day someone brought in a box of kazoos, and one of the stage hands picked one up and played one of the motifs. Somebody said, “I know what that is! They’re forging Nothung.” Then somebody grabbed another kazoo and started playing another motif. This snowballed, and pretty soon we had a group of about 14 stagehands playing Wagnerian themes doing name that tune on the kazoo! It was a priceless moment.

RETURNING TO THE RING: Cristine Reynolds, Assistant Stage Manager

2013-08-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Cristine Reynolds, one of Seattle Opera's Assistant Stage Managers, has been cueing Ring performers onstage on time and with props in hand since 1995. When she’s not working on the Ring, she works for Seattle Repertory Theatre and Seattle Children’s Theatre.

What are the responsibilities of an Assistant Stage Manager?
No singer goes onstage without being cued by an Assistant Stage Manager or Stage Manager. That’s different than theater (and musical theater) because in theater, actors are not cued on stage.

Why the difference?
My guess—and this is a guess—is that a long time ago, performers were coming in from different countries, they didn’t all speak the same language, and the rehearsal period was so short that they didn’t necessarily know their colleagues’ vocal parts. So they needed somebody to make sure they got on stage on time. That’s my guess.

Someone needs to know the whole thing.
That’s us. The big picture. It totally boils down to supporting your colleagues. And making sure your onstage singing colleagues have everything they need to sing the best show they possibly can.

I know the singers appreciate it…
They’re awesome. They are such a great group of people. All of the singers are so supportive of each other. The attitude is “we’ll help you, we’ll get through this together.” Sometimes I think it’s like summer camp for singers and stage managers.

Which shows are you working?
This time I am working on Rheingold and Götterdämmerung. This is the first time I’ve focused on Götterdämmerung, so that’s exciting.

Cristine Reynolds marking her scores of the operas
Yasmine Kiss, photo

I know stage managers use a score to follow along with the opera. Is it ever tricky to keep track?
I’m finding the more tired I am the more visual information I need from my score. So I’m going crazy with my highlighter. This green mark means I need to say “go” to someone. In one section of Götterdämmerung, for instance, they say “Heil!” four times, and if you lose your concentration, and haven’t counted the “Heils,” you’re hosed. Everyone’s score is different. You have to figure out what works for you. Some assistant stage managers scores are really spare in their cueing/markings. They’re like haiku. Mine, on this show, is not a haiku; it’s more “in your face.”

Are you also responsible for the props?
Before everyone goes onstage, we literally say: “Do you have your prop?” I’d say to Siegfried before he enters in Act I: “You’ve got your Nothung, you’ve got your Nothung holder, you’ve got your Tarnhelm, you’ve got your baldric, you’ve got the ring….” Every time someone walks onstage you have to make sure they have their prop because all of the props are very important. If Freia doesn’t have her apple bag? Well, there we go. That’d be the end of Rheingold, thanks very much.

What challenges are particular to the Ring?
Big scenery, long rehearsal period, and not necessarily a challenge but a plus is working with so many artists and so many stage managers. Knowing how to play well with others is a huge part of it.

Do you have a favorite scene?
One of the great things about working with Stephen Wadsworth is that there is such an intellectual and dramaturgical approach to the piece. There’s often a lot of discussion within the rehearsal process of: Why are you doing this? Why is your character on this journey? What is their process? That is always very exciting for me to listen to. It creates a deeper understanding of what’s happening in the scene for me. I think Rheingold Scene 4 is one of my favorite scenes and also the scene with the Three Norns. I love that scene. That scene in particular is why I wanted to do Götterdämmerung this time around. The three women have such good acting skills, and they know what their characters are feeling. They each have a different journey; you can see that journey in the studio. It’s just thrilling to be in the room with those three women and Stephen and the Associate Directors. You think, “Wow, it doesn’t get better than this.”

Do you ever wish you could watch from the audience or do you like being backstage?
I have seen all of them once from the audience. I like being able to do both, though it’s hard sometimes to shut off my brain about what’s happening backstage.

Do you have a favorite Ring character?
Everyone calls me Erda. Since 1995 I’ve always been the oldest member on the stage manager staff. So I think people think I’m the voice of reason, the all-knowledgeable one. Do I identify with Erda? That’s a very good question. I don’t know.

You’ve been a part of this tradition for many years now. How do you describe the ride that is Seattle Opera’s Ring?
On one hand, there are little benchmarks. When the big banner went up on the side of the opera house, I thought about how we’re going to be a part of something that’s bigger than ourselves, and that’s exciting. It’s fun to be the flavor of the city for a few short weeks.

I am also finding myself very emotionally full during this whole process. Every person involved in the Ring has probably experienced great joy in their lives—people getting married—and also great sorrow. I think about the things that are benchmarks in my life during the Ring and how I feel about those things when I am doing this project once again.

RETURNING TO THE RING: Sande Gillette, Violinist

2013-08-15T09:44:00.000-07:00

Audiences have been loving the incredible sound of our orchestra, led by Maestro Asher Fisch. Wagner’s Ring is probably the supreme challenge for any opera orchestra, and although our orchestra benefits from Seattle’s long tradition of presenting these operas frequently, that doesn’t make them easy to play! Sande Gillette has played second violin for Seattle Opera’s Ring cycles since 1976, and she says she’s still learning.

What is your history with Seattle Opera’s Ring?
I started playing the Ring in ’76. Seattle Opera did that production each summer until 1984, and I played them all, every single one. I learned the story very well, because of the two casts they had at the time. They had one cast that sang the operas in English and one that sang in German. (They did not have supertitles.) I can’t tell you how many times I was asked: “Is it harder to play in German or in English?” [laughs] I’d smile and say, “Well, it doesn’t much matter to the violin players!”

One international language!
It’s some of the hardest music I’ve ever learned, and it isn’t even orchestral music, it’s opera music.

Is opera normally easier to play than orchestral music?
Yes, on the whole, opera music is less demanding for the orchestra than our usual symphony work, our usual repertoire. There are exceptions to that; and Wagner is consistently very difficult, some of the hardest music I’ve ever learned. And yet it’s written to be an accompaniment to the stage. Except with Wagner, the action moves back and forth between the orchestra and the stage. Wagner does that consistently in the Ring by developing the various themes both onstage and in the orchestra. Sometimes the stage is very static, and the bulk of the activity and the development of the themes is in the orchestra. Then the reverse happens—the orchestra becomes much more static and quieter and a lot of the drama is shifted to the stage. It’s part of his genius that we’re both just as important in the storytelling.

What was it like to play it for the first time?
For the first couple of cycles I played, I don’t think I did anything else besides practice, eat, sleep, go to work, come home, practice, eat, sleep, go to work, come home.... It was so amazing to try to learn all of that. I’m still learning. We all are. It’s fabulous music, and so very well-written. Wagner scores the music so beautifully that the orchestra can be roaring away and when it’s time for the singer, the orchestration and the dynamics are such that the voice comes right through. You just have to play what Wagner wrote, and it works. It’s a masterpiece on so many levels. I find it amazing that one man could write the music, write the lyrics, build a stage, do all the stage direction...it’s truly a masterpiece and I always feel like the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

So when you say it’s some of the hardest music you’ve had to learn, can you characterize that? What is so hard about it?
Technically, it’s very difficult in places. Most of it is playable with a lot of practice. It’s very dense, and it’s non-stop for strings in particular. And you have to work very, very hard to learn this music and get it up to tempo. I think it’s an endurance contest more than anything, because it’s so long. Our parts are 70, 80, 90 pages long for each opera!

Sande Gillette in action

Do you get a break?
The strings play most of the time. I think there are two or three places where we rest for about 10 minutes—in the whole cycle! We try to take good care of people who are playing it for the first time, because it’s so difficult and people can get easily discouraged. You’re always convinced that you’re the only person in the pit NOT playing every note, when in fact some passages are meant to be an effect, a rush of sound.

Is it actually impossible to play all the notes?
Most of it is very playable. There are passages that are renowned finger-tanglers. In the fire music in Walküre, it is, I would say, virtually impossible for any orchestra anywhere to have every player play every note at exactly the same time. It’s divided up, first of all, so you have different people on different parts; it’s hugely dense; it’s fast. Wagner was way ahead of his time in lots of things, but he gave, in the fire music, a tonality and a time frame, and basically: “There you go, have at it! Get as much of it as you can!” So you get most of it...and the effect is what is so fabulous in a place like that. But most of the Ring is highly playable.

There are moments where it’s so big, and so loud for the audience...how loud is it down there in the pit for you?
Very, very loud. Many of us keep foam earplugs stuck in our scroll box, where the pegs are on the violin, and put them in as needed and then stick them back in the scroll box! If the brass are four feet away, you have to have some type of protection.

Do you have either a favorite opera or a favorite passage to play?
In the third act of Siegfried, after he wakes up Brünnhilde, the music is just so glorious. It’s worth sitting there for four hours, just to get to that point.

What about the violin passage just before that, when Siegfried climbs out of the fire?
It’s very slow, very quiet, and very exposed, and the rhythms are a bit unusual. The entire violin section plays it together—we’re the only thing you hear!

Violin section solo from Act 3 of Siegfried

How long did it take to get this music in your fingers, to learn it?
I think all of us are always learning. I really have to work at it every single time. When I first played it, back in ’76, it involved incredible amounts of practicing. It was at least the third year before I really started to feel a wee bit comfortable on some of those hard, hard passages. I had to change my style of fingering. String players ordinarily shift from one position to another in a very logical manner; but with Wagner, you don’t have time—and it doesn’t fit the music. So you grab large chunks of notes, and jump from one chunk to the next, so you end up with what I call “chunk-style” fingering, which works very well! But until I figured that out, some passages were harder than they needed to be.

Do you have any favorite Wagner-related reading?
I’d like to recommend George Bernard Shaw’s book The Perfect Wagnerite. He alternates chapters in the book talking about the music and talking about Wagner as a person. And I agree with George Bernard Shaw in that all of Rheingold, all of Walküre, and two acts of Siegfried are actually music drama; and then starting with the third act of Siegfried, where he wakes up Brünnhilde and this poor tenor who’s been singing for four hours has to compete with a fresh soprano who’s been resting for three days—from that point in that act through all of Götterdämmerung are actually opera. Of course, you get to the end of Götterdämmerung, when the Rhine River overwhelms everything, and you end up playing the same music you played at the beginning of the week for the Rheingold, so it truly is a cycle. You could turn that over and start all over again! No thank you!

INTERVIEW BY JESSICA MURPHY

Lori Phillips to sing Brünnhilde on 8/9/2013

2013-08-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Lori Phillips, who sang Brünnhilde at Seattle Opera’s August 7, 2013 performance of Siegfried, will sing Brünnhilde at tonight's performance of Götterdämmerung. Alwyn Mellor continues to recover from the indisposition that affected her on Wednesday. Ms. Mellor is scheduled to sing Cycles #2 and #3.

Phillips made her Seattle Opera debut as Gerhilde in Die Walküre in 2001, and she returned to the company as Amelia in Un ballo in maschera and most recently in the title role of Turandot. Last season, Ms. Phillips made her role debut as Aida at Hawaii Opera Theatre, and she sang Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana at Arizona Opera, a role she has also performed at Vancouver Opera and at Opéra de Québec, and the title role of Turandot with Opera Lyra Ottawa and Portland Opera. She has also performed Turandot at Atlanta Opera, New York City Opera, and in concert selections at Alice Tully Hall and at Tokyo’s International Forum. In 2011, she sang Lenore in Fidelio for Portland Opera. In 2010, Ms. Phillips debuted at the Metropolitan Opera as Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer, a role she has also performed at Washington National Opera, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Syracuse Opera, and Sarasota Opera. Also that year, Ms. Phillips made her role debut as Brünnhilde in Die Walküre with Hawaii Opera Theater and Maddalena in Andrea Chénier at Nashville Opera. She has also sung the roles of Madama Butterfly at New York City Opera and Utah Opera, Lady Macbeth at Arizona Opera, Ariadne in Ariadne auf Naxos at Vancouver Opera, Minnie in La fanciulla del West at Utah Opera, and Leonora in Il trovatore at Florentine Opera. The soprano made her U.K. debut as Elisabetta in Don Carlos at Opera North. This year she will perform Senta in Der Fliegende Holländer with Michigan Opera Theater and Arizona Opera and is featured on a new Naxos recording of Darius Milhaud’s Oresteia of Aeschylus as Clytemnestre and the Spectre de Clytemnestre, performed by the University of Michigan Musical Society. Other recordings include Ariane in Ariane et Barbe-Bleue with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Telarc), Dallapiccola’s Volo di Notte with the American Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Nashville Symphony (Naxos).

RETURNING TO THE RING: Charles Tim Buck, Fire Designer and Flight Technical Director

2013-08-09T14:39:00.000-07:00

Charles Tim Buck is the Ring’s Fire Designer and Flight Technical Director—among the more job cool titles in the universe—and he has been the company’s master carpenter since 1990. I talked with Tim (left, with the Valkyrie Rock burning in the background, photo by Rozarii Lynch) about how he enables the Rhine Daughters to sing midair, how he designs the fire, and what inspires him about live theater.

You designed the harness worn by the Rhine Daughters in the opening scene of Das Rheingold. Is there an easy way to explain its unique features?
People have been using harnesses for hundreds of years to carry somebody, to let them down, or for rescue or safety. These harnesses allow the performer to sing. That’s the difference. Most people who use a harness—rock climbers, for instance—they’re in that harness for maybe three minutes or until they can get to safety. Our harnesses have to be worn and used in the air for twenty-five minutes, and they have to move vertically and horizontally almost consistently. They also have stirrups and shoes so the singers can use foot pressure without having any weight around the middle of the body or through the legs, providing the diaphragm with the freedom to sing. And because the Rhine Daughters do somersaults, they’re hooked up on the sides, rather than a normal harness that goes right down the middle.

Tim Buck (with Flyman Justin Lloyd) helps Rhine Daughter Jennifer Zetlan get accustomed to her flying harness
Alan Alabastro, photo

Was it the Ring that made you come up with this design?
Yes. For Seattle Opera’s 1985-1995 Ring, the track and the rotator and all the rigging of all the flying—they travel vertically and horizontally and also turning both directions—that was all designed for the flying horses. And then I just changed a little bit on the rotator to accommodate people instead of art scenery.

What kind of background and training goes into your job?
I have been working in technical theater since 1971. I have a BFA and a Master’s degree in theater.

How many people does it take to get a singer airborne?
For the flying there are three tiller operators and three rail operators. The tiller operators control the movement of the Rhine Daughters back and forth, and the turning, and the rail operators control the vertical, all their ascents and descents. Three of each. There is also a person who handles the way that the system works. It works as a counter balance, so there’s a bag of sand that takes the place of the singers when the singers aren’t there. There’s a guy that clips on the bags. I do all the hooking up and unhooking. And there are two additional people who put the harnesses on the singers and bring them to the stage.

Your title is also Fire Designer. How did you get trained in that and what does that involve?
To get a Master’s in technical theater you take a lot of structural engineering, engineering, hydraulic and pneumatic systems training, all that kind of stuff. I also worked briefly in the military on explosives.

Can you tell us a little bit about the design?
For the company’s second Ring, we worked a lot with propane and we did a lot of research and development on how other gases work. For that one, the fire was in Götterdämmerung. In this Ring, the director wanted Wotan to start the fire and have it grow. Taking that artistic concept into mind, I started designing this system: there’s a 100 gallon propane tank and of that 100 gallons we fill it halfway so the liquid can convert to gas in the tank. We can then pump enough volume to control the 35 valves and almost 50 igniters. Each section of the ledge has a gas hose going off of the main distribution valve. So the valve opens and the igniter starts igniting for 4 seconds, until the fire is lit. Then the fire starts at one spot, that valve opens, and then that one and that one and that one. The four trees start from the bottom, then the fire leaps up to the next section. It was a lot of fun designing that.

Brünnhilde (Alwyn Mellor), hearing Siegfried's offstage horn call, prepares to greet him as he once again crosses her magic fire
Elise Bakketun, photo

How long does it take? You get the concept from the director…
As far as I’m concerned and as far as my training is concerned, the whole thing begins with telling the story. That is what I’m trying to do and that’s what the effects are trying to do. I’m not trying to create splashy effects just to impress people. The effects are to help tell the story, to make the story everything that it can possibly be. So, the concept comes from the composer originally and then goes through the director to the scene designer and from them it came to me.

Did the composer say there would be fire onstage?
The composer said Wotan would surround Brünnhilde with fire to keep everybody away from her. With this particular Ring there wasn’t a heavy concept laid on it, like in the German Rings that are done in space or in a circle or like the Met in a big machine. This was a very natural, a very historic Ring as far as it follows what the composer had in mind. His whole vision of it being actually someplace in a forest or on a cliff or Gibichung hall or whatever. It’s all intended to help tell that story, the original concept.

Are you backstage for every performance?
In addition to being the designer I’m also the master carpenter. I’m the only person who has a pyrotechnics license, so, yes, I am in control of the fire every time it burns. I’m in control of the flame.

How many people are backstage working on the fire?
On the fire I have my pyro guy Ian who works under my license and controls the mechanical valves on the ledge; there’s a tank operator; and then there are people on fire watch on both sides of the stage who have been trained in putting out fires.

Is there a fire marshal?
For Ring 2 we had a fire marshal onstage for each of the performances, but that fire was the “end of the world fire.” It was 32 feet tall and approximately 27 feet around, so we’re talking about a different scale. For our current Ring, the fire marshal usually comes to one of the rehearsals. Part of the design is a CO2 feedback system. With a flip of the lever, instead of gas flowing into the valve, carbon dioxide flows into the valve, so the fire is robbed of both fuel and oxygen at the same time. We can turn that fire off in a heartbeat. And the CO2 is also very cold, so not only is the fire gone but everything is cold. When the fire went out, the fire marshal said, “I wish we had one of those!”

You don’t think about that…it must get hot up there.
Oh, yeah, it gets hot up there. In Ring 2, I was in the middle of it with Brünnhilde and the flames were above our heads all around us. We actually had a hot dog roast on that set.

Do you have a favorite moment or scene?
I think my two favorites are after the scene change from anything into the ridge terrain because the curtain comes down, there’s a rumble backstage with things moving out, and then the curtain goes up and it’s the forest. People often clap instantly. And the other one is when Wotan sets the ledge on fire.

Tim Buck backstage
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Are you an opera fan?

My passion is theater. I love the telling of stories and the entertainment value in that and the value to people’s consciousness. People have more access to feelings and thoughts in this form of entertainment. And opera is the biggest theater, this is the big thing, this is 63 trucks full of scenery alone, not to mention how many people are working on it. There are 50 people working backstage, and roughly 100 musicians, 70 chorus, 20 principals, there’s a whole third floor of people selling it and promoting it and finances. This is the biggest theater job and mine is the heaviest responsibility job in the business. This is a heavier job than the Las Vegas shows. This is the major league if you were going to put it in baseball terms.

And the Ring is the biggest of the big…
That’s what’s thrilling about it and that’s what’s challenging about it. We have 10 days of load in, and then we go from that into tech rehearsal and orchestra rehearsal, so we’re working 9 am to midnight 6 days a week for the summer. There’s always somebody around saying “your cue is this, keep your eye on the ball.” It’s very taxing.

Sounds like you like that scale…
Oh yeah. If you’re going to do anything, what’s the toughest thing you can do? One of the things that theater teaches is: Go for the big, go for it, do the best, do the biggest…

Seattle Opera's Ring Artist: SAMUEL ARAYA

2013-08-08T10:07:00.000-07:00

If you are in Seattle for the Ring, you will see Paraguayan artist Samuel Araya’s work—on your tickets, in programs, and on countless items in the gift shop. Through a crowdfunding effort started by a local Seattle gallery where he’d previously shown his work, he was able to make the trip to Seattle and attend the dress rehearsals for Die Walküre and Siegfried. He spoke to us about his introduction to the Ring (via heavy metal), the research he did for his art, and how inspiring the trip and the opera have been for him.

Did you come to this project with a lot of familiarity with opera?
These dress rehearsals were actually my first time to see an opera other than YouTube videos. I was a little familiar with the story of Siegfried because of references in pop culture and video games. Being a metalhead I had been exposed to countless references to Valhalla and especially the ride of the Valkyries.

What kind of research did you have to do in preparation to create this art?
I tried to familiarize myself with Wagner. I saw a documentary about Wagner and the Ring called In the Eye of the Ring, which I loved, and another documentary about the Met Ring cycle, which has, as you all know, a very particular take on the opera. It was very interesting. I watched one Ring on YouTube and researched Ring art for inspiration. One artist was Kinukko Craft who designed work for Dallas Opera—so lush. I saw production photos of the stage actors, and one thing that struck me from the Seattle Opera production was Wotan. I mean no disrespect to other Wotans, but this particular actor had a very interesting and commanding presence. He looked like a god. So I had to use his likeness for the artwork.

How did you decide which moments to depict?
Siegfried, for example, had to involve the battle with the dragon. It doesn’t get any more epic than that! I also was very impressed with the first scene in Das Rheingold. It caught my attention that everyone put so much effort in depicting the ethereal movement of the Rhine Daughters, so I felt that the art had to reflect upon that.

Was this subject matter a departure of sorts?
Yes, I’m mainly a “horror” artist. I put that in quotes because while I don’t mind being in that genre sometimes I create art that I think is beautiful but gets the “horror” label anyway. This is my first time working in epic fantasy. I hope it is the first of many. I work for gaming companies and role playing games, mostly dedicated to horror and urban fantasy. I get the text and come up with certain concepts. Sometimes I get a description of a scene and it’s so cool it needs to be illustrated. I also work for heavy metal bands, doing merchandising, illustrating CD covers.

What was your reaction to the performances?
When I came to see it, I really felt I was part of something very unique and special. A larger experience. I love it here. I’m in debt to Wagner.

Your readers will have to have patience with me because I may seem naïve, but in Die Walküre I wanted to grab the person next to me and say, “Did you see what she just did? Wow!” I was so enthusiastic, and I certainly felt the same energy and emotional power I felt in many heavy metal concerts! Ha! Another scene that struck the right note with me was the first scene of Siegfried when Mime is looking at the audience. You know this is one evil character. He is up to no good, and you feel intimidated by it, just by the actor standing silently, with the music slowly escalating. That was a very powerful moment for me. Siegfried and Brünnhilde blew my mind. I could sit in my studio and prepare another 30 paintings of the Ring. The experience certainly will reflect upon my coming production in the years to come!

What is your process?
I usually take photographs, I collage them together, and then I paint over that. I “pull” the photographic elements in and out of the painting. You can say it’s 50 percent collage and 50 percent painting. These were purely digital because of time constraints, but I often will print these images and work over them with water colors and gouache. I also had the help of my girlfriend. She has been a muse in the real sense of the word. She modeled for the Rhine Daughters and the Valkyries and did splendid and inspiring work.

How soon after you got the assignment did you make your plans to attend?
I’m here because of a lot of good people. Initially, my work was in a role playing games exhibit at Krab Jab Studio. Then the opera issued an open call and I submitted my work. After my work was chosen, the owner of the studio (Julie Baroh) thought to do a fundraising campaign so I could see my work in Seattle. They raised enough to get me here. I’m so thankful. One of the wonders of art is seeing people conected and helping each other not based on money or material interests but on the emotional power they see in the work. I have witnessed that power, I have witnessed that goodness and generosity, and it’s been quite a ride to Valhalla.

RETURNING TO THE RING: DAVID MCDADE, Assistant Conductor

2013-07-31T17:47:00.000-07:00

Seattle Opera first began presenting Wagner’s Ring operas in 1973. Because of our long tradition with this immense work, many of the hundreds of people working on this summer’s Ring have faced its challenges before. Over the next few weeks on our blog we’ll check in with some of these talented artists and craftspeople who are “Returning to the Ring.” Edited versions of these interviews will also appear in the program. Today we speak with David McDade from Seattle Opera’s music department: pianist extraordinaire and Assistant Conductor for this summer’s cycle.

Can you describe what you’re doing at Seattle Opera this summer?
My permanent position is Head of Coach-accompanists; for the Ring I’m one of the assistant conductors. I also schedule musical needs for rehearsals, which is extremely complex, as you can imagine. I need to be ready to play at the piano or conduct any portion of the Ring in rehearsal or coaching at any time. 17 hours of music. It’s a bit much to keep between here and here [gestures to ears]. It used to be that when we did the Ring, the coach-accompanists only worked two shows at most, but at a certain point I said, you know what? I’ll just challenge myself to do the whole shebang.

Are you at every performance?
Yes; I am cover conductor for Rheingold and Siegfried, and I also have backstage duties, such as playing the Rheingold anvils, which are digital samples on a keyboard, and conducting offstage cues, such as the Valkyries we hear from offstage—they’re back there with me conducting off a TV monitor with Asher [Fisch, the conductor of the cycle] on it. I don’t have any backstage duties in Siegfried because our dragon, Dan Sumegi, sings his role from the orchestra pit so he can see the maestro and a TV monitor so he can see also what's happening onstage. That's how he can scream exactly at the moment when Fafner gets stabbed in the heart. That’s my personal favorite of the four operas. I love Siegfried.

How did you first learn about the Ring?
You know, The Lord of the Rings was really what first introduced me to Wagner. I had read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings even before I first heard Wagner on the radio, and had turned around and read the whole thing again. Loved it; it had amazing resonance for an 11 year old boy. I was reading an interview with Tolkien where he spoke about Wagner’s Ring, and I thought, ‘There are operas about the Norse gods—that’s cool!’ That was what inspired me to investigate. One thing I love about epics, films or operas, is that at its heart an epic is always about basic human relationships. Act I of Die Walküre is about Siegmund and Sieglinde finding each other and taking control of their destiny.

Die Walküre was the first grand opera I ever heard. I already played the piano and French horn, and I'd listened to a lot of classical music, but of opera I'd only heard Menotti’s The Telephone and Amahl and the Night Visitors. Then I heard Die Walküre on a radio broadcast from San Francisco Opera, and, though I didn't know the language, listening to the music I could tell what was going on: when the characters were upset and when they're joyful and when they're going to run off together. And the music! When the "Ride of the Valkyries" came on, it made such a huge impact on me, I told my dad, "I didn't know music like that existed!"

I didn’t play the show until 1995, when I was asked to come to Seattle to assist on Rheingold and Walküre. I had some evenings free, so I started looking at Siegfried. [Principal horn player] Mark Robbins said Siegfried was his favorite opera, and I said, “That’s because of the horn call you play!” He said, “Well, of course...but seriously, it’s the most interesting.” So much happens in Act One, and it’s amazing the way he tells the story musically. There’s what the dialogue tells us and what the music tells us; when Mime says to Siegfried, “I never saw your father," the orchestra plays Siegmund’s theme, so yeah, Mime knows exactly who Siegfried’s father is, he’s just not telling. Later you find out that Mime knows the whole story. It’s really brilliant. All these operas have something special to offer. Die Walküre is so lyric, it’s amazingly well written—if you have the voice to sing it. And Götterdämmerung is this huge culmination.

David McDade
Alan Alabastro, photo

How long did it take you to learn the music?
Hermann Michael [conductor of Seattle’s Ring in 1987, 1991, and 1995] used to claim it was arrogant to say, “I know the Ring.” I’m always learning the Ring. I’m still discovering things in never realized, thematic relationships, psychological implications, musical subtext. Trying to play all of it on the piano is impossible, especially in Götterdammerung when there’s three or four layers. I don’t think I ever really play the same thing twice. You want to play what sounds best or, more practically, in rehearsal if a singer needs help with a rhythm, for example, you make the rhythm more obvious than it would be with an orchestra and then you gradually wean them off and make it more vague. They have to internalize it, feel it in their bodies. You can’t tap your foot up there!

What are you most looking forward to this summer?
Working with Asher Fisch [conductor of this summer’s Ring]. I like him a lot on a personal level; we get along very well. He’s just one of the best musicians I know, especially for Wagner, which is near and dear to his heart. He has a way to let it breathe and live; there’s always enough room for the notes to play out and sing. If a Wagner conductor just follows the singers, it starts breaking down into sections, and you lose the sense of flow. It doesn’t really stop and start; the music should always be going somewhere. It never feels slow, because there’s always motion. That’s where the conductor comes in: how do you phrase it, how do you get from page 1 to page 2000. The art of making the text speak. Asher has always been concerned about the text, the way the text flows as poetry within the musical line. He has a special relationship with the Seattle Symphony, and they really play for him!

“Make Some Noise!” with Seattle Opera

2013-07-26T15:59:00.001-07:00

Join us and “Make Some Noise” at our free, family-friendly McCaw Hall open house next Saturday, August 3! This special event, taking place the day before opening night of Der Ring des Nibelungen, kicks off a year-long celebration of Seattle Opera’s 50th Anniversary. Open house guests will have an exclusive opportunity to subscribe to the four operas of Seattle Opera’s 50th Anniversary season for only $50.

Patrons enjoy a recent Seattle Opera open house
Rozarii Lynch, photo

As you approach the building on August 3, you’ll find three-dimensional Ring-inspired sidewalk art by Marlin Peterson. The public can view this outdoor art installation, located on Kreielsheimer Promenade near McCaw Hall’s serpentine glass wall, throughout the month of August. Morning activities at the “Make Some Noise” open house include KING FM’s Instrument Petting Zoo, a “Make Your Own Instrument” activity, a photo retrospective of Seattle Opera’s 50 years, and imaginative original performance art by Lelavision. This Seattle-based group, whose mission is to delight people using creativity, will play several of their kinetic musical sculptures, including “Violcano,” “Longwave,” “Metalphor,” and “Orbacles.”

Lelavision’s Longwave

In the afternoon, musicians from Seattle Opera’s Youth Chorus and the Seattle Youth Symphony, together with Seattle Opera’s professional singers, will present Seattle Opera’s complete Our Earth opera trilogy, with music by Eric Banks and libretti by Irene Keliher, conducted by Stephen Rogers Radcliffe.

Town Hall performance of Heron and the Salmon Girl
Alan Alabastro, photo

These operas, perfect for children of all ages, follow a quest for missing salmon from the marine environment of Puget Sound all the way upstream to a mountain watershed. In the first opera, Heron and the Salmon Girl, animals such as Heron, Orca, Turtle, and the fisherman Tayil travel from the open water of the Sound to an estuary in search of the missing fish. Meanwhile Alitsa, a young woman who is also a salmon, searches for her brother, Parr, who has left their small fishing village only to fall ill in the big city. In Rushing Upriver, the second opera of the series, the journey continues. Salmon siblings Parr and Alitsa head upstream, searching for a unique white flower with healing properties, closely pursued by a hungry coyote, a mischievous raccoon, and a wise raven. An eagle, frog, and owl from east of the Cascade mountains help Alitsa, Parr, and Tayil solve the mystery of the missing salmon in the final opera of the trilogy, Every River Has Its People. Each of these English-language operas is approximately 30 minutes long.

"Make Some Noise!” Open House
August 3, 2013
McCaw Hall
Admission: Free

10:00 a.m.: Doors open; hands-on activities explore music-making and sound production, featuring the incredible music, sculpture, and performances of Lelavision
12:00 p.m.: OUR EARTH Part 1: Heron and the Salmon Girl
12:30 p.m.: More performances by Lelavision
1:15 p.m.: OUR EARTH Part 2: Rushing Upriver
1:45 p.m.: “The Finer Points of Kazoo Virtuosity and Other Musical Noise”
2:30 p.m.: OUR EARTH Part 3: Every River Has Its People (Seattle premiere)

Seattle Opera’s First Ring: An Interview with Joan Herald, Valkyrie Ortlinde in 1973

2013-07-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

Joan (Falskow) Herald performed the role of Ortlinde, one of the Valkyries, in Seattle Opera's first Ring productions, including the 1973 Die Walküre. One of Seattle Opera's original choristers, Joan sang with the company for a total of 16 years and has vivid memories of our early Ring productions. Joan is an active volunteer, serving as the Vice President of Education for the Seattle Opera Guild, an independent organization which provides support to Seattle Opera and was the lead sponsor for this year's Young Artists Program Viva Verdi! concert.

Joan, how did you get involved with Seattle Opera?
I grew up in Tacoma, Washington and later went to University of Puget Sound on a scholarship as a vocal performance major. When Seattle Opera began in 1964, I was one of the original sopranos in the chorus.

What was the company like at that time?
In the very beginning, we were a mom and pop company. At first, Glynn Ross did the stage direction and his wife would design the costumes. In those days, Glynn would bring in one big name. It was exciting for those of us working in the company.

Glynn was the "P.T. Barnum" of opera. He would do anything to bring people in: when he did Salome he had a lapel button that said "Get a head with Salome." And he put the Valkyries in full costume on the monorail for publicity photos.

An early team of Seattle Opera Valkyries shares some smiles backstage
Joan Herald, photo

Where else did you perform?
I performed a lot of principal and secondary roles in Cornish Opera Festival productions and the University Festival Opera. Among my favorites were Helena in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream opposite John Duykers, the Princess in Cavalli's L'Ormindo because the recitatives were so different and it was a very early opera, and Eurydice in Gluck's Orpheus and Eurydice with Marni Nixon, who was living in Seattle at the time. Opera is for everyone, and I was lucky to be able to tour small communities in Alaska. I was flown in by bush pilots, but the audiences loved that they were having the music come to them.

Joan Herald backstage, costumed as Ortlinde
Joan Herald, photo

How did you get cast as Ortlinde?
I am a spinto soprano [a voice type between a lyric and a dramatic soprano], and I had performed some small roles. One day, I was asked if I would be interested in singing one of the Valkyries. Ortlinde was the best role for my voice type. I sang the role in the original Die Walküre production and then again in the complete Ring cycles of 1975 and 1976.

Do you have any favorite memories of those productions?
Henry Holt was our conductor and he would mouth all of the words as we, the Valkyries, ran around on the foam rocks on the set. Our Wotan was Noel Tyl who was 6'10" and made everyone feel petite. Our Ring was his first, and after one of the productions, he broke down completely from exhaustion and emotion.

At an onstage rehearsal, the Valkyries, standing, are about as tall as Noel Tyl, seated (far right, with spear)
Joan Herald, photo

We used to rehearse at one of the airplane hangers at Sandpoint. During the first Ring, Henry Holt, our conductor, said he had something to tell us. It seemed that tickets were selling so well that another performance had been added, but our contract did not provide for any more pay. We [the Valkyries] talked it over and agreed to do it. We were not happy, though, so we picked up our shields and spears and surrounded him. He honestly looked a little panicky [laughing].

Stage Director George London works with Joan Herald at a rehearsal at the Sandpoint airplane hangar in the '70s
Joan Herald, photo

At that time we performed the Ring in both English and German. Sometimes the translations were a bit strange. It was the first time it had been done in two languages this way in the United States.

I don't know if people realize today that the first Ring was a world-wide event. It was featured in Time and Newsweek magazines, and it shared front page headlines in the Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer with the Apollo launch. It was a very special time.

Did you work with Speight Jenkins?
I sang sixteen years with Seattle Opera, and three years under Speight Jenkins. I did take a few years off in the 1970s. Speight has done a magnificent job building the company.

Tell us a little bit about what you do with the Seattle Opera Guild.
I used to sing Seattle Opera Guild previews occasionally in the early days. I only became involved again about three or four years ago. I was asked to be Vice President of Education of the Seattle Opera Guild because of my background, and I am also the new co-chair of the Magnolia/Queen Anne Preview group. If you have not yet discovered opera, a Guild preview is a great way to get a taste of it. By learning about the opera in advance and hearing the music performed live by some very fine local singers, the preview really adds to your appreciation of the Seattle Opera performance.

Is there any final thought you would like to leave us with?
When I was at Stadium High School in Tacoma, I sang an aria from La Bohème. I was nervous about performing an opera aria in front of a bunch of high school students, but they were very supportive and they gave me a tremendous ovation. It was such a big thrill. I have believed ever since that we can have bigger and younger audiences if we introduce opera to people at an early age.

Joan Herald today, wearing part of her original Ortlinde costume
Joan Herald, photo

Interview by Jessica Breitbarth

Meet Our Singers: GREER GRIMSLEY, Wotan/The Wanderer

2013-07-23T12:34:00.000-07:00

Greer Grimsley has sung the role of Wotan all over the world, but he first sang it here in Seattle in 2005, winning the company's Artist of the Year Award for his performance. He’s back for his third Seattle Ring and a tenth summer in Seattle. He spoke with us about the challenges of his role, how this production has been a family affair, and how singing Wagner in Seattle provided a turning point in his career.

Greer Grimsley sings "Abendlich strahlt" from Das Rheingold

You have now sung Wotan all over the world. What does this Ring mean to you?
I love this Ring. Since it is the first Ring that I ever did, it has huge sentimental value for me. I also believe in the production. I believe in the storytelling that we do. For all of its wonderful music, the Ring is also very text driven. The care that’s given to the text and to making sure that all intentions and relationships are clear—you don’t get that in all productions. That keeps me coming back.

Plus, I’m just so happy to be back in Seattle. I consider Seattle one of my home spots in the world.

Greer Grimsley as Wotan in Die Walküre
Chris Bennion, photo

When did it occur to you that someday you’d sing Wotan?
I had lots of folks telling me, ‘You might end up doing this,’ but it wasn’t until Speight gave me the opportunity to sing Telramund in Lohengrin. Prior to that, I was a victim somewhat of the very conservative nature of musical-vocal thinking in the United States: that you have to sing Mozart until you’re 45 and then you can do heavier things. That’s not how my voice worked. Early in my career on I was having trouble finding direction because that didn’t suit what I could do. It wasn’t until I sang my first John the Baptist that things clarified for me in terms of where I should find my niche in the opera business. Then that opened up other opportunities. And I would have to say, yes, of course I started thinking about Wotan, but I was thinking about other things as well, such as just getting hired. When Speight did ask me to do Wotan, I was ready to be asked. It happened exactly at the right time.

Greer Grimsley as Wotan in Siegfried
Chris Bennion, photo

Do you find it easy to relate to Wotan? Are there moments of his long journey that are more or less challenging to connect with?
That’s a good question. As an actor you always bring something of yourself to the role. In the realm of Wotan’s mishaps and adventures there’s the sense of someone trying to fix something, not having enough information, and being bound in at every turn. I think we’ve all felt that and can relate to that. I know he is a god, but his experience that’s shared with the audience through all of this is very human. You can identify with every bit of it. He has the ability to kill someone with just a gesture, as he does in Walküre, but that’s the only time where you see his godhood. Saying good-bye to his daughter forever, seeing his son killed—those are hugely human conditions and emotions. For instance, being able to make bargains and treaties with people—sometimes not telling the whole truth to get the best deal—that was part of survival and success when these stories were first created.

Do you like appearing in Götterdämmerung? Have you made that appearance in other cycles?
This is the only one, and I have to say, yes, I do enjoy that. It does put a nice bit of punctuation to the character. I think everyone who does this role will say that you get a chance to develop a character through three operas. There’s not anything else in the repertoire that I can think of where you get a chance to do that.

Could you share a favorite memory associated with this production?
When I first did Wotan, my daughter was a Nibelung, and my wife was a Valkyrie. Luretta is here again as a Valkyrie, so having the whole family in this is quite enjoyable.

What would you say is the most challenging aspect of Wotan?
I think everybody would say stamina. And that’s something you can help yourself with. In Rheingold he’s much more youthful and in Walküre there’s a heavy weight on Wotan, and there’s a sense of resolve that comes in. But people shouldn’t even notice that he’s different—that’s the hard part.

Greer Grimsley as Wotan in Das Rheingold
Bill Mohn, photo

Why do you choose not to mark in rehearsal?
Actually, I’ve talked with some colleagues about this, and especially in this repertoire it’s sometimes easier to sing than to mark. It takes more maneuvering and thought process as opposed to just singing it. When you mark you think, ‘Ok, how am I going to do this? Am I going to do this an octave lower?” And it sort of takes away from the dramatic part of it. In many ways, because the music is now a part of me, this kind of rehearsal frees me to explore other avenues.

It’s interesting to think of the music being a part of you…
It’s become a very dear friend. The first time I did it my intent was to do the best job I could do. But I didn’t want it to be evident that it was my first time doing it. When Speight asked me, I had a year to get it done, so I cancelled some jobs and through translating and working on the music, I just made sure it was as close to second nature as possible before I even showed up here.

Greer Grimsley and Speight Jenkins
Bill Mohn, photo

What has it been like to work with Stephen Wadsworth and Asher Fisch?
I’ve known Asher for a very long time and love working with him. We understand each other when he’s conducting, and the same with Stephen. He gives us the freedom to explore, and he helps with specifics as well. Every time you do something like this you look for different ways to approach it. Tito Gobbi, who sang Scarpia thousands of times, wrote in his book that every time he performed that role he found something new. I read that as a young singer, and that’s the way I look at any role. I look for something new, maybe something I missed or I can do better.

Do you have any thoughts about Speight and this being his final Ring?
I’m hugely sad about that. Speight has been responsible for me being in this repertoire and tapping me to do my first Wagner. Lohengrin in 1994 started me on a wonderful path.

Meet Our Singers: STEPHANIE BLYTHE, Fricka/Second Norn/Waltraute in Götterdämmerung

2013-07-16T10:12:00.000-07:00

Seattle Opera is blessed to have Stephanie Blythe, one of today's leading singers, playing three important roles in our Ring. Blythe, who won Seattle Opera's 2008 Artist of the Year Award for her definitive performance as Amneris in Aida, has also enchanted Seattle audiences as the delightful Isabella in L'italiana in Algeri and the seductive Carmen. But her first Seattle appearance, as Fricka in 2000, brought such strength and dignity to the queen of the gods that she has commanded the role ever since. She spoke with us about the Ring, her colleagues, and why she keeps coming back to Seattle.

Stephanie Blythe singing Waltraute's Monologue

How did you choose to sing Fricka?
I came here to sing Fricka because I trusted Speight Jenkins and Stephen Wadsworth to help me to make the right decision about what I should be singing in the Ring at that moment at that time. I took their advice, and I don’t regret it.

Greer Grimsley (Wotan) and Stephanie Blythe (Fricka) in Die Walküre
Chris Bennion, photo

How do you describe Fricka?
Fricka is a woman who is love with a man who is about to make the biggest mistake of his life. She knows it, and there’s nothing she can do about it. Later on she’s given the opportunity to confront him and give him a way to solve this problem, knowing that if he does go through with what she asks of him, it will end any relationship they have. She’s willing to make that sacrifice to do the right thing. Very few people will say that. Most people who see the Ring see Fricka as a harpy, a nag, but I don’t see her that way at all. And quite frankly it’s doing this production that’s convinced me that that’s absolutely untrue about her.

Stephanie Blythe (Fricka) contemplates the dead Fasolt at the end of Das Rheingold
Rozarii Lynch, photo

How did the production convince you?
Because of how we’ve talked about the character and how it’s staged. It’s far more interesting to play a character with layers than somebody that’s, well, a pain in the ass. It’s more interesting to play someone who is upset about something because they love someone, not because they love being upset.

Greer Grimsley (Wotan) and Stephanie Blythe (Fricka) in Die Walküre
Chris Bennion, photo

Do you have a favorite Ring memory?
There are too many to count...being a part of Greer Grimsley’s first Wotan. Being honored to be Greer’s first Fricka. I think that’s probably the greatest thing I take away.

When did you take on the role of Waltraute?
I had been doing the Fricka and Second Norn for a very long time. I mentioned to Speight that I’d very much like to add another role because I wanted to learn something new about another character in this show. And Waltraute is a very interesting character. She has one scene, and what she has to say is incredibly important. The scene is very much like the Fricka/Wotan scene but with a totally different outcome. It’s an essential argument, and I enjoy that kind of confrontation. Fricka wins her argument and Waltraute does not, really, until the very end.

Stephanie Blythe as Waltraute in Götterdämmerung
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Do you learn the role by singing it?
You learn the role before you sing it. But you learn more about a character every time you sing it. I’ve never sung anything the same way twice. I’ve sung Fricka with Greer now many times, and I can tell you we do it entirely differently now. The movements may be very similar, but the attitudes and emotions and motivation behind them are very different.

Do you love that about your job?
Absolutely. It’s never the same. No performance is ever the same because the audience is never the same. Every performance changes with the audience. The audience very rarely take on what an enormous part of the process they are. An audience can make or break a show. And Seattle has a very successful Ring cycle largely due to the support of our audience.

What are you looking forward to this time around?
I’m looking forward to working with Asher Fisch. We’ve only worked together once before, and I enjoy his conducting very much. I also enjoy his brain. He has an exceptional brain. His thought processes are really singular, and I’m always intrigued by that. I have a very distinct feeling that when all is said and done, he will have taught me a tremendous amount. Even though I know this role very well, he will have further enlightened me. And I hope I will have done the same for him.

Stephanie Blythe as the Second Norn in Götterdämmerung
Rozarii Lynch, photo

How do you feel about being back in Seattle? I’ve been doing this since 2000 and it’s not an easy show and it’s not an easy process to put this together, but I relish the opportunity. I have kept coming back, not just because I love the show but also because I love this company. I feel a great kinship to this company. I adore everyone who works here, and I consider Speight Jenkins family, truly, even outside of the opera world. I love the city, everything about it, I love the audience here, and that’s where you want to be.

Speight's Corner: Brünnhilde and Siegfried

2013-07-15T16:37:00.001-07:00

General Director Speight Jenkins introduces you to Alwyn Mellor and Stefan Vinke -- two of the new-for-2013 principals. Includes footage of singers in rehearsal.

Meet Our Singers: DANIEL SUMEGI, Fafner/Hagen

2013-07-09T09:31:00.002-07:00

Daniel Sumegi made his Seattle Opera debut as Daland in 2007. This summer he reprises ‘bad guy’ roles he first sang in Seattle in 2009: in Das Rheingold, the giant Fafner; in Siegfried, Fafner (now a dragon thanks to Mime's magical Tarnhelm); and in Götterdämmerung, the scheming Hagen, advisor to the King of the Gibichungs. But the Australian singer, who uses the same amazingly dark, rich, velvety voice to speak as he does to sing, had much to say in defense of his characters. He also told me about the differences between the different deep-voiced characters in the Ring, and reflected on how the opera industry has changed in the last few years.

Daniel Sumegi sings Hagen's Watch Song

Welcome back! I’ve heard rumors that your voice is even bigger and richer this summer than it was the last time you were here, for our ’09 Ring. Do you perceive a difference?
Not really...although I did start working with a different teacher in ‘07. These things take time: you have your career, you’re off running around the world, and lessons are few and far between. What I do feel I have is much more stamina, and am more grounded. It could be that I’ve finally ‘clicked’ into my voice type. There’s a great deal of emphasis now on getting everything done when you’re 25. That’s a new thing in opera. Until a few years ago, opera used to be the place where you could have a long career and age in a dignified manner. But now, in my 40s, I’m regarded as a veteran. Which I think is really sad!

And now the 20-somethings are supposed to be ready to go as full opera professionals, which is often biologically impossible. What is causing the change?
Cinema. Close-ups. Frankly, it’s beautiful to watch, but it’s not an accurate way to represent opera. The live experience is what pins you to your chair, or sweeps you into another world. And you can’t get that from a screen. Maybe from a recording, if it’s recorded beautifully...but that’s not opera either. You can turn it up to whatever volume you please, in your living room.

And it’s not just the sheer volume that pins you to your seat, in the theater—
Sometimes it is!

Okay, but often it’s a combination, a lot of elements working in concert.
Right, which you can’t replicate through media. I think this emphasis on youth is financially driven. More established singers are more expensive, and obviously companies need to cut costs.

That’s what you feel has changed, even in these last four years.
Rapidly.

You’ve done a lot of Rings in these years. You’ve done Rings in the US, in Europe, in South America, Japan. Australia—
That’s coming up, Australia. Opera Australia plays in Syndey and Melbourne, but the theater in Melbourne is the one that’s big enough to hold a Ring cycle. Only 2000 seats, so it’s smaller than these big American houses, but the pit is big enough for a Ring orchestra and the backstage facilities are good. The pit in Sydney can only hold about 65 people. Even when they did Meistersinger there, that wonderful production back in ’88, they had to amplify the strings. But in Melbourne this year, we had a pre-rehearsal period for Rheingold and Walküre, which they ran up to Piano Dress stage. We rehearse Siegfried and Götterdämmerung beginning in September, and present full cycles in mid-November.

So the public hasn’t seen any of it yet, no half-Rings of just Rheingold & Walküre...
No, nothing.

You weren’t involved with the Australian Ring of 2004, conducted by Asher Fisch, who’s conducting here in Seattle...
No, I did the previous one in Adelaide, in 1998. That was my first, the Châtelet Ring which they took to Australia. I sang Hagen in that. Quite a part for a 32 year-old! I somehow managed to survive it, and I suppose that’s why I keep getting asked to do it. Hagen is a really tricky role. There’s no lyricism in it at all, except in the Alberich-dream scene. And one or two lines when he’s drugging Siegfried in the hunt. Otherwise it’s all very angular and harsh, always sitting in the passagio, and every time he sings all the brass play with him. It’s completely unfair.

Daniel Sumegi as Hagen, rejoicing with the Gibichung vassals
Rozarii Lynch, photo

I love Hagen’s big declamatory lines: “Gute Waffen, starke Waffen, scharf zum Streit!” “Meineid rächt’ ich!” or “Heil, Siegfried, theuer Held!”
Right, and everybody in the orchestra is always playing their loudest, and somehow you have to be heard at least through it, if not over it.

So what have you learned about the role over these fifteen years you’ve been singing it?
You just do your best! That’s all you can do. The Ring is such an ensemble piece—there are no star turns. Everyone has to do their part, and do their best, that’s all.

You’ve sung it so widely. Do you find the audiences differ much, in terms of how they respond, from continent to continent?
They’re responding to the production they’re looking at. I’ve come to the conclusion that often people are not listening to anything. They’re hearing what they’re seeing, and responding to that. So if it’s a horrible production, they’re not really hearing anything beautiful. They’re just tolerating an evening out. If they’re watching a beautiful production, they’re going to hear it more beautifully. I’m convinced of that.

And you’ve done Rings running the gamut, from beautiful to...
Horrendous.

Or maybe they weren’t going for beauty, maybe there was another aesthetic goal in mind! Can you clarify for us the difference between Wagner bass, bass-baritone, and helden-baritone roles: Fafner, Fasolt, Hunding, Wotan, Hagen. Here you’re singing Fafner, who’s sort of the bottom of the barrel, in terms of deep bass sounds.
Yes, it requires a sort of inky black quality, which, frankly, I don’t have. But I can sing all the notes and give it the volume it requires. I am still a bass, but not that type—perhaps a Karl Ridderbusch type. Subjectively speaking I might be better suited, vocally, to sing Fasolt, and Andrea [Silvestrelli, who sings Fasolt and Hunding in Seattle] might be an ideal Fafner, in terms of vocal color. His voice is so unique and dark. If I weren’t standing and singing right next to him, you’d probably think that I have the right color. But it’s also a matter of taste.

Andrea Silvestrelli (Fasolt) and Daniel Sumegi (Fafner)
Rozarii Lynch, photo

We’ll listen for that. And the two of you have worked together before—
We’ve been brothers here in Seattle, and in San Francisco; we’ve been adversaries in Don Carlo. We first met at the Pavarotti vocal contest in Italy, back in ’91.

Does the relationship between your Fafner and his Fasolt change from city to city?
It’s similar. We may be dressed differently—in San Francisco we looked like Super Mario Bros. We were welders or riggers, and we entered on an iron girder as if we were coming down from the Valhalla building site.

But you were still the unpleasant older brother—
Wait, wait, neither of us have come into that scene with the intention of being unpleasant. We’re forced into this strange situation, in order to get our payment.

Daniel Sumegi (Fafner) negotiates with Greer Grimsley (Wotan), who is reluctant to pay the giants their promised fee
Rozarii Lynch, photo

What’s the difference between the two of you?
I’m cleverer, he’s nicer. He’s more sentimental.

Right, you’re not in love with Freia, the way Fasolt is—
I’m not in love with her at all. I’m just after money. When the gold is offered, I’m much more interested in that.

So getting back to the different types of Wagner bass...have you sung Fasolt elsewhere?
Yes, Buenos Aires. And I’m singing Fasolt in Melbourne. It sits higher than Fafner, and he has a big aria—two arias. Fafner only has interjections in Rheingold. His aria comes in Siegfried.

What about Hunding?
Hunding is closer to Fafner and Hagen. But it’s extremely short; it appears much bigger than it is. It’s very cleverly written.

That’s interesting, Hunding is one of the shortest roles in the Ring.
There are only a few long roles in the Ring: Brünnhilde, Siegfried, and Wotan. Hagen is a pretty long role. Mime is a long role, in one act. Siegmund, same thing. Alberich is a big role in one opera. But these other roles are very compact.

So you’re here, singing Fafner, who’s down at the bottom of the range; you’ll be in Melbourne this year, singing the higher and more lyrical Fasolt; and I notice that you’ve also covered Wotan. Are you a bass-baritone, or a bass?
I have a low voice. I’m equipped to sing many roles, both high and low! And not equipped to sing other high and low roles. So...it depends. I have a very easy top. My top is better than a lot of baritones. But I remain a bass, or at least a bass-baritone. I prefer to say, “I have a low voice, and if I can sing the role, I will!”

Well, I can hear it in your speaking voice, which is amazing.
Yet I tell you, if Andrea were sitting here talking next to me you wouldn’t hear that at all, swear to God! [laughs]

Which role is higher: Hagen or Wotan?
The Siegfried Wotan is very high. I had to sing that at a dress rehearsal in Los Angeles...it wasn’t a problem for me—they’re manageable, compact scenes—but it’s very high. Act 3 of Die Walküre is the hard one. The monologue in Act 2 is hard, just from the point of view of memory...

And then stamina challenge of Act 3.
Right, because it’s declamatory first, controlled yelling, and THEN you have to sing the most gorgeous lyrical piece every written, in the Farewell.

Do you have a favorite among all these roles? Or one that’s the most fun?
Fun?! Gee. [chuckles] Hagen is fun to play, because he’s just such a bastard. But I like singing the Siegfried Wanderer very much—it’s got jokes in it, he’s teasing and needling people all night.

Hagen must be an interesting character to embody. You’re here to tell us that he’s misunderstood.
No, not really...I just like saying that. Hagen is what he is. He’s certainly very troubled.

Is he a victim of prejudice?
Well...he’s stuck in this lonely old castle with Gunther, who looks down on him for being a lesser being than him. Yes, there’s prejudice there.

Hagen’s parents. Lots of love for little baby Hagen, as he was growing up?
Alberich didn’t have love. He renounced it. He had a child, but couldn’t have loved him, because he’d given up loving.

Richard Paul Fink (Alberich) and Daniel Sumegi (Hagen)
Rozarii Lynch, photo

But in our staging of the dream scene, we see some tenderness, or even intimacy between father and son...
That’s pretense. You know: “There, there...do what I say.” Alberich is there to get Hagen to fulfill his destiny. And if he needs to touch his hair, or give him a kiss, he’ll do it. It’s fake love.

And Hagen can tell the difference?
Oh, yes, It tortures him.

Gordon Hawkins (Gunther), Marie Plette (Gutrune), and Daniel Sumegi (Hagen)
Rozarii Lynch, photo

What about Hagen’s relationship with Gutrune?
He thinks she’s a bit of a dope. He certainly plays her, right to the end. She doesn’t catch on at all, until the end.

It’s sort of like Iago, in Othello.
Yes, it is.

With Iago, people are always debating his motive...
But here it’s very clear: Hagen is after the ring. Everything he’s doing, it’s all to get the ring. Because the people who have the ring, Brünnhilde and Siegfried, are superheroes. You can’t just walk up and take it off their finger.

Stig Anderson (Siegfried) with the dying Fafner
Rozarii Lynch, photo

One question for you about Fafner in Siegfried: you mention the aria Fafner sings there. Why is Fafner so kind to Siegfried as he lies dying?
Fafner was never an aggressor. He was lying in his cave, minding his own business, when Siegfried comes and wakes him up. It’s like Fasolt in the beginning of Rheingold: “We didn’t come here to fight you, we just want our money.”

How do you act the role of Fafner in Siegfried, given that you’re not onstage?
You just have to sing it. It’s all in the words. I have to give them the right vocal color, snarling or sounding as if I’m dying.

Wouldn’t you say that Fafner is an agressor, when you kill your brother over the ring?
It’s all very sudden. Fasolt takes the ring; I snatch it from him and look at it; and suddenly he really wants it back, and we start fighting to the death over it. Whoever has the ring is cursed, and I guess the curse works really quickly on Fasolt!

Seattle by Nature: RING Scenic Design

2013-07-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

Join Technical Director Robert Schaub in the old growth forest of Seattle's Seward Park to learn about the inspiration, design, and construction processes behind Seattle Opera's hyper-natural sets for the RING cycle.

Meet Our Singers: WENDY BRYN HARMER, Freia/Gerhilde/Gutrune

2013-07-02T11:19:00.001-07:00

Although she’s new to Seattle Opera, Soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer is no stranger to the Ring. Wagner fans have recently enjoyed her performances in San Francisco and in New York; reviewing a recent Met Ring, both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal singled out her Gutrune for praise. She spoke to me the other day about the three wonderful roles she plays in this Ring, about why Wagner singers are so easy-going, and about how she evolved from flutist to Rossini mezzo to lyric soprano and where she may go from here.

Welcome to Seattle Opera! Since this is your debut with us, could you tell us about your background—where you’re from and how you became a singer?
I was born in Roseville, California, and I became a singer because my flute teacher told me to. I was intending to become a flute player well into junior year in high school. I’d studied for twelve years, and I was applying to conservatories for flute performance. But my flute teacher came to a musical I was in and she said, “Your talent might be in flute, but your passion is clearly in voice.”

What was the musical?
I was Maria in The Sound of Music. I’ve portrayed every female character in The Sound of Music—worked my way up through all the little girls—except the Baroness and the Mother Abbess!

Now, favorite roles. In your online bio we’re listing a large number of operas you’ve done at the Met...but which roles are your favorites?
Sieglinde, which I’m covering in Seattle, is probably my ‘desert island role.’ If I had to pick only three roles to sing for the rest of my life, I’d pick Sieglinde, Tatyana [in Eugene Onegin] and Ariadne. Mmm...I don’t know. Maybe Adalgisa [in Norma]. I’ve sung that a couple times, and love it, love it, love it. And I firmly believe she’s a soprano, not a mezzo.

Are you considered zwischenfach, that middle-ground between soprano and mezzo?
I was a Rossini mezzo, all through my training. I went to Music Academy of the West after junior year in college, and the first time Marilyn Horne heard me she said, “I think you are probably a dramatic soprano.” And I was all of 21. So she said, “Carry on with this Rossini mezzo business as long as possible, because what’s anyone going to do with a 21 year-old dramatic soprano?” So I stayed a mezzo until I went to the Met. I was auditioning for Juilliard when Lenore Rosenberg [then head of the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Program] heard me; I sang “Una voce poco fa,” and Mimì, and the Countess. One of those “Okay, where is she going with this?” auditions.

But Horne had said, “dramatic soprano.” Have you gone that far, toward Brünnhilde, Isolde, etc.?
Not yet. But I will.

Wendy Bryn Harmer and Stephen Wadsworth check the score at a rehearsal of Das Rheingold
Alan Alabastro, photo

Now our director for the Ring, Stephen Wadsworth, has long been closely associated with the Lindemann program. Do you remember when you first met him?
It was in 2005 or 2006. We worked on Tatyana together, and Alcina. But I haven’t appeared in his productions at the Met.

It must be interesting, knowing him from New York as you do, to come here and see the Wadsworth/Seattle Opera machine, which has been developed over all these years, at work.
Yes, it’s funny, I was doing the Ring at the Met before coming here, in May, and he ran into me just outside Lincoln Center, and he grabbed me and said, “Wendy Bryn Harmer, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve written your name this week.” You see, he was working on the Master Rehearsal Schedule for this summer. So I was nervous about where this was going! And he said, “But I don’t know what to do, because Asher [Fisch, Seattle’s Ring conductor] is asking for music rehearsals, and I don’t know when we can fit them in!” And I said, “Stephen, good heavens! We have three and a half months! Can’t we find the time to rehearse the music? It is the Ring cycle after all...please give us some music rehearsals!”

You’re one of the few people in this production who’s joining it for the first time. What’s that like?
Well, Stephen works both ways: sometimes we do a bit of staging because that’s what’s in the book, that’s what the character did last time. But sometimes, particularly if multiple performers in the scene are new, he’ll just scratch the old staging and create a new one for the new performers. When you’re doing things because other people motivated them, twelve years ago...it makes for a difficult rehearsal process. It’s awfully hard to memorize the staging when it isn’t self-motivated, when the reason is that twelve years ago, somebody else moved on one particular word.

Right, because the book didn’t record the motivation, it recorded the move.
Yes, and it doesn’t make any sense to me, because as the character I might move on THIS word, and in this way and at this pace.

Many in our cast think of Seattle Opera’s Ring as a family. Have they been welcoming to you, as a newcomer?
Oh, yeah. But Wagner productions are always that way. There aren’t that many Wagner singers. There’s, like, five people in the world who can sing Brünnhilde. So we all know each other. Stephanie [Blythe, Seattle’s Fricka and Götterdämmerung Waltraute] and I have been together forever. A bunch of us just did the Ring at the Met. We move in packs! I was talking to one of the singers here, who’s doing her first Wagner, and she was a little surprised by how easy-going everyone is. But it’s true, Wagner singers tend to be pretty chilled out. And there are good reasons for that. If you’re, say, a soubrette soprano, there’s always someone better and younger than you clawing at your back. When you’re a Wagner singer, you’ve got thirty years ahead of you. So you can just calm down and settle in. Also, the operas are longer, which means everyone has to play nice.

That’s interesting. All Wagner’s operas are ensemble pieces—there’s no way to have a “diva turn” in any of them. So that kind of energy...
Yes, and it’s an awfully long time to be the person that no one likes. If you’re mean, or difficult to your dresser or what-have-you...all Wagner singers learn that lesson pretty quick.

I’ve noticed that you keep busy with Twitter. (Follow Wendy at twitter.com/WendyBryn!) Do you find it a useful way to connect with fans?
I do! Because I use Facebook to stay connected with my family—we’re all so spread-out—I find Twitter a better way to connect with fans.

Now let’s talk about your characters. As Gerhilde you get to be one of the Ring’s kick-ass warrior women; but as Freia and as Gutrune you’re a very different kind of woman. Not necessarily a very modern woman.
It depends. This Freia is pretty badass. She’s a goddess, too, and she is really angry at Wotan. Often Freia is just Fricka’s baby sister, who gets dragged around a lot. But Stephen wants Freia to stand up for herself as much as possible. There’s not a whole lot she can do, given the situation—the contract is written, and the giants are here—but here she isn’t a whining victim about it.

Wendy Bryn Harmer, with Freia's bag of golden apples, rehearses a scene from Das Rheingold
Alan Alabastro, photo

Freia doesn’t have too many lines; but this is a classic Stephen Wadsworth production, where you have a million reactions to everything everybody else says.
Right, Freia is tricky, because she doesn’t have a lot of lines and yet her two scenes are all about her. Stephen needs every reaction from her to be bigger, stronger, faster than the reactions from the other gods. This is all happening to her—she has the most at stake. Without Freia, there is no opera. She’s the point, she’s the problem! The giants are here to take Freia away, and what does that do to the gods? And when they get the gold and ransom Freia, what does that do to the gods, long-term?

If she had more lines, what would she say? How does her attitude toward the other characters evolve over the story?
She starts very angry with Wotan, that he has put her in this position. And at the end, I think she’s really sad. Because Wotan doesn’t get it, and I do. In this production, Freia hears what Loge says at the end: “This is it for the gods...they’re going to their doom.” And I have to take that offstage with me.

And what about Fasolt?
At the end I think Freia feels a little bit of guilt. Fasolt wouldn’t have been killed, if it hadn’t been for her. Now, some directors play with the idea that she falls in love with him...

...whereas here, you’re pretty grossed out by the whole idea.
Yes, and I remain grossed out by the idea...not so much of him, but of being taken. It’s that she has no control, that she’s being traded like a commodity. But from the beginning, Freia recognizes that Fasolt and Fafner are two very different people. And Fasolt has a good soul. He really wishes I would come willingly. If I don’t, he’ll just have to take me. But it would be better if I just wanted to come hang out with him. Fasolt doesn’t have his brother’s violence in him; he’d always rather have Freia than the gold. And she recognizes that as being noble. She doesn’t hate him, she just wishes she had a little more control over the situation.

What does she think of Loge?
Loge is responsible for Fasolt’s death. He tells Fasolt to take the ring away from Fafner, and that leads to their fight. I grab Loge, as if to ask, “What are you doing?!” but two seconds later, Fasolt is dead.

So Loge is never on Freia’s “good” list. He complains at one point that you’re always stingy with your precious fruit, around him.
There is a moment where I give him one apple. Loge ends up giving it to Wotan, to get him through Nibelheim. But no, Freia doesn’t trust Loge. He isn’t one of us.

Wendy Bryn Harmer as Freia in the Schenk/Schneider-Siemssen production of Das Rheingold at the Met
Beatriz Schiller, photo

What do Freia and Gutrune have in common?
Very little. The first complete Ring I ever did playing multiple roles was with Otto Schenk, the last go-around of his production at the Met, in 2009/10. And he wanted me to keep in mind that Gutrune was the only mortal I played. For him, Gutrune was much more of a victim than Freia. But Freia can stand up for herself and speak her mind, and that isn’t really possible for Gutrune, given that she’s human, and female, and very sheltered. She’s lived in this castle her whole life, dominated by her two brothers. She’s very close to Gunther—he’s father, brother, friend, everything. Freia lives in a bigger world.

Freia is goddess of love, but she isn’t in love herself. Gutrune, however, falls pretty hard...
...for Siegfried, yes. There’s also this sense of wishing that he fell for her without the use of that potion. She’s constantly aware that he may or may not truly care about her. It’s probably just because of the drink.

In your last line, you blame Hagen.
“Hagen, this is all your fault!”

But she gave him the drink! Hagen just reminded her about it. Does she ever acknowledge her own guilt here?
In her last line, I think that’s the closest she comes to acknowledging that she understands. She understands, by then, that Brünnhilde was Siegfried’s true love. And she didn’t know anything about Brünnhilde when she gave Siegfried the drink. It’s easy for Hagen to manipulate her, not because she’s stupid but because she doesn’t have enough information. She’s offstage for a lot of really important conversations!

So is she the female version of Fasolt? You know, “I’d like him to be in love with me...but if not...”
Right, “I can drug him into this.”

Seems morally sketchy, no matter where you’re coming from.
Yes, and she fights with that for the whole opera. “Should I have done this?”

Jay Hunter Morris as Siegfried and Wendy Bryn Harmer as Gutrune in the Lepage production of Götterdämmerung at the Metropolitan Opera
Ken Howard, photo

Is Gutrune a challenge to sing?
Gutrune can be a challenge just because it’s spread out over such a long time. You’re in costume for about seven hours. There are many places where your energy can drop.

Let’s talk about your Valkyries. I notice that you sing Ortlinde at the Met, but on the west coast you are Gerhilde. Switching roles in that scene sounds like a terrible idea!
Dreadful! I hate it, I hate it! I’ve been offered other Valkyries, and I say no. The solo lines aren’t the problem; it’s the ensembles, they kill you. It’s 100% muscle memory. Two years ago, when Stephen asked if I’d do this, I asked to sing Ortlinde, because that’s what I was doing at the Met. But for staging purposes, he really wanted me to be Gerhilde. But I’m always Ortlinde at the Met, because of the staging there. At the Met Ortlinde spends a lot of time running up and down the machine, and I could handle the machine—I’d spent so much on it already.

How do we tell the difference between Gerhilde and Ortlinde? Their costumes are similar.
Gerhilde starts the scene! That’s the easiest way to keep track. And she’s usually higher, in the ensembles.

What about personality? In this production, Siegrune tends to stick out—
She’s so ornery, grumpy-pants there, yeah. Gerhilde is a little more involved in the scene. Ortlinde is the meteorologist, on weather-report duty looking for Wotan’s storm. In Seattle she’s around the corner for much of the scene. Also, Ortlinde is typically portrayed as the youngest sister.

Do you like being a Valkyrie?
I do.

Wendy Bryn Harmer as Gerhilde, with her sister Valkyries protecting Nina Stemme (Brünnhilde) in the Zambello production of Die Walküre at San Francisco Opera
Cory Weaver, photo

Must be noisy up there!
It is. There’s always an alpha-Valkyrie. I did my first Walküre when I was 23, at the Met alongside some hard-core Valkyries who’d been doing it for 30 years. And I didn’t know what I was doing, just didn’t get the character. Otto Schenk pulled me aside at one point and said, “Just want you to know: you’re looking a bit like a cheerleader.” So we had a great conversation about being a Valkyrie, because nothing in my real life corresponds to being a Valkyrie. I’m sort of a girly-girl: I’ve been taken care of a lot, I’m tidy, I get to shower every day! Valkyries have probably never showered. Valkyrie humor doesn’t translate very well to human humor: “Ha ha! Dead bodies!”

Have you ever met anybody, on Planet Earth, who reminds you of a Valkyrie?
Totally. [laughs] On sports teams, a couple politicians. You know, Valkyries are not vegans. They probably don’t do their nails. They don’t use hand-rails. They don’t sit still very often. And they’re getting together here at their Clubhouse. That’s why it’s such a shock when Sieglinde comes in.

“A girl?! On our rock?”
There’s totally a “No Girls Allowed” sign hammered to the mountain-side. No matter what the Valkyrie rock is, it’s their meeting-place, hangout.

So it must be weird when Wotan shows up there, too. Dad, suddenly invading your rec room.
Yes, usually he wouldn’t come in there. That’s how we know we’re in trouble.

It must be strange for Waltraute to come back there, in Götterdämmerung, and see what Brünnhilde has done with the place.
Yes, like when you go back to the house you grew up in and you don’t recognize anything. I’d think that’d be very jarring.

So you’re Freia in Das Rheingold, Gerhilde in Die Walküre, and Gutrune in Götterdämmerung. What do you do on a night when the rest of the gang is performing Siegfried?
Avoid the theater! I didn’t even see Siegfried for a lot of years—a night off can be precious when you’re doing the Ring.

Meet Our Singers: JENNIFER ZETLAN, Woglinde the Rhine Daughter & ForestBird

2013-06-25T14:09:00.000-07:00

American soprano Jennifer Zetlan made her Seattle Opera debut in 2010 as The Flier in Amelia, a dream-version of a well-known missing-in-action 1930s aviatrix. This summer she flies again at Seattle Opera—both as a Bird and as one of three singers who appear, suspended above the stage in this production’s now-famous Rhine Daughter harnesses. I spoke to this remarkable soprano, whose crystal-clear diction even in the highest tessitura is a god-send for composers writing in English, about the trajectory of her career in Seattle so far, about her two fascinating roles in the Ring, and about what she’s learned about her characters from her young daughter.

Jennifer Zetlan as The Flier in Amelia

Jennifer, you’re doing so much traditional rep for Seattle this year – Puccini (Musetta in La bohème), Wagner, Verdi (Gilda in Rigoletto next January). Is that usual for you?
No, not at all. Mostly I do new music, or off-the-beaten path things. It's nice to get to do lots of standard stuff in Seattle!

Well, you started here with new music, with Amelia. How did your affinity for singing new music come about? Was it your choice?
I wouldn’t say it was exactly my choice...I really like new music, I gravitate towards it. And I think I’m lucky that it has gravitated toward me, as well. I’ve been offered plenty of interesting and varied work.

Is it also that you have a proven track record—that you can deal with new scores written full of esoteric harmonies, or with strange time signatures, that you actually sing them right?
Right...or at least, with conviction! [laughs] Yes, I’m a pretty quick study, which is helpful when you’re doing new music, because you’re constantly always having new pages thrown at you, with “Can you just memorize this new passage for today...in six minutes?”

I imagine some performers can roll with that, while others might quickly grow cross-eyed...
Sure. But then it’s nice to come to Wagner, where no one is going to throw new pages at me. It’s like vacation!

What languages do you sing?
English, Italian, French (once even dialogue in French), German, Russian, Portuguese, and one time I did a whole opera on "ah!"

Speaking of singing in unusual languages—your character of Woglinde the Rhine Daughter gets the first line in the Ring, “Weia, waga, woge, du Welle, walle zur Wiege, wagalaweia, wallala weiala weia!” What language is that?
Wagnerese. [laughs]

We’ll return to Woglinde and her crazy opening line in a second. Tell us what Rhine Daughter flying has been like!
It’s great! It’s difficult to rehearse, because we aren’t in the exact place doing everything all at once—we’ve had to rehearse it in pieces, to deconstruct it.

Rhine Daughter Rehearsal: Jennifer Zetlan (Woglinde), Renee Tatum (Flosshilde), and Cecelia Hall (Wellgunde) seen from the ground by photographer Alan Alabastro

Because you can’t rehearse in the exact spatial relationships to each other which you will be onstage.
Yes, and there are so many types of movements happening: both our horizontal and vertical traveling, plus our pivoting, all of which are controlled offstage by members of the crew, and then our flipping and turning somersaults, which we control, not to mention the swimming motions we make with our arms and legs.

Right, and that swimming has to be done knowing exactly how you’re ABOUT to move.
Yes, it has to look like we’re starting each movement. Even though we control almost none of it, we have to look like we’re in control of the staging!

Flight Technical Coordinator Tim Buck designed the flying harness that suspends Rhine Daughter Jennifer Zetlan in mid-air
Alan Alabastro, photo

How weird. Have you ever done anything like this before, in your career?
Yes, in the Met’s Ariadne, the three nymphs are moved about in these enormous, beautiful cages. And again, we had to learn where we were going, so that it looked like we initiated each movement.

The nymphs in the Metropolitan Opera's Ariadne
Marty Sohl, photo

The character has to appear to have one complete thought, even though multiple people are responsible for the movement. It must be like animation—how many people worked on getting that cartoon mouse’s arm to move just right. And...do you like being up there?
Wearing a harness and flying twenty feet above the floor is...well, I wouldn’t call it comfortable...can’t say I don’t have any bruises! But you get used to it, like anything. We began rehearsing early, so we had plenty of time to figure it out. It’s certainly worth it—it looks really, really cool.

Scene One of Das Rheingold in Seattle Opera's production
Rozarii Lynch, photo

So, let’s talk about your character, Woglinde the Rhine Daughter, and perhaps we should start with that weird opening line, whatever language that’s in.
It’s sort of German. It’s German-ish. It’s like a playful lullaby, like something she’s sung for a million years.

What does it mean?
It doesn’t mean anything. It means whatever I want it to mean! It’s just so joyful. It’s about unmitigated joy, the freedom of swimming, and this wonderful life.

She’s so happy, it just explodes out of her in this “Wallala leia” gibberish.
Yes, all three of us, we often break into that kind of thing, with lots of “Va” and “La.”

Wonderful nonsense. Speaking of not having much sense...why do you spill the beans to your friend Alberich there? You’re the one, Woglinde tells him all about how to steal the Rhinegold from the river by forsaking love.
Yes, I start it, I tip the can. I think it’s just this wonderful...innocence. I have to think that way, otherwise I would HATE Woglinde, all the hours of suffering and agony we have to endure because of her! [laughs] She doesn’t think it’s possible that anything could be different than it is now. Can’t imagine that life could be different. So she’s just sort of talking, like her nonsense of “Weia, waga, woge du Welle,” these words just spill out of her.

But her music becomes much more sad, when she explains about rejecting love: “Nur wer der Minne Macht entsagt...”
Right, it’s so sad, to think that somebody could do that.

So can she imagine it? Or is that something she’s been told? You know, it’s like when a child loses their pet goldfish, and processes death and loss for the first time: “What do you mean, it’s dead? I don’t get it.” Trying to figure that out, how that changes the whole world. Has that happened to Woglinde yet?
It seems to me that “Father,” Father Rhine, whoever he may be, he must have said it to them like this. That he felt a sadness when he explained this to his daughters, and that made an impression on her.

Aha, so she’s singing the tune he sang when he first told her about it.
Yes, and she understands that there’s a sadness to the idea that someone might ever do this.

But has no ability to connect that idea with...how mean she’s being to lovesick little Alberich, here.
Right, these girls are a little clueless!

Jennifer Zetlan played a much more intelligent flirt when she sang Musetta in Seattle Opera's La bohème earlier this year
Elise Bakketun, photo

What’s it like to sing all the close harmony you have with your sisters?
Oh, it’s so great! We’ve known each other for a long time, we were all in school together. Cecelia [Hall, who sings Wellgunde] and I first did a summer program together in 2004.

Is it hard to get the voices to blend properly?
It’s been very natural. We’ve had to discuss breathing and phrasing, of course...

And in Götterdämmerung, the three of you sing some complicated harmonies...
Thorny.

I was going to say, “Jazzy,” but “Thorny” is good too!
Yes, that’s actually closer to the music I normally sing! I have a weird fondness for singing twelve-tone roles...I know, it’s a quirk! I don’t have time to get in my own head when I have to think about intervallic singing. Götterdämmerung certainly isn’t tone rows...but the harmony is suddenly very different, and I think it captures the anger and frustration they have, with Siegfried in that scene. It shows how they’ve grown, from Rheingold to Götterdämmerung.

Oh, that’s interesting...in Rheingold, when you sing that beautiful “Rheingold! Rheingold!” trio, the harmony is pre-Tristan, let’s say.
There’s Wagner in there... Rheingold isn’t all Mozart or Haydn. But for that moment in Götterdämmerung, when they’re all agitated, he turns on this amazing thing in the harmony. It’s an outpouring of frustration.

Yes, they’ve been frustrated for a very long time now. Their world is not the beautiful place it once was.
It’s been dark, for so many years.

And with that, all these new harmonies are available to them. Now, we were talking a moment ago about the blend of voices—are the Rhine Daughters separate characters, with individual voices, or is this one character with three heads?
Good question. When we sing together, I wouldn’t say we are trying to blend. You sing with your distinct, individual solo voices, and you get a special sound, instead of changing how you sing when you sing together. Wagner highlighted the differences, so we don’t really have to do anything special to make the three characters distinct.

How are they different?
So Flosshilde is the older sister, Wellgunde is the middle sister, and Woglinde is the little kid. Flosshilde is always bossy, always reminding us: “Father told us, watch that gold!”

Now, in addition to being a Rhine Daughter, you’re also a bird.
Right. It’s all about flight, this summer!

I’ve always been struck that the bird sings basically the same tune as Woglinde, in that opening line...but the rhythms are different. [Hums to demonstrate]
Huh! You’re right—but I hadn’t thought about that.

Oh, yes! And what rivers of ink have been spilt trying to explain that...although I like the theory that Wagner just couldn’t come up with a new melody, so he re-used your old one! [laughs] No, the intervals, for Woglinde’s motif and the Bird’s motif are the same—the Bird starts a little higher—but the rhythms are different. The Rhine Daughters sing in this bouncy 9/8, but the Bird...the rhythm for the Bird’s version is really perplexing.
Wagner notates the rhythm in different ways. As I do it, you sing 9 notes where you would ordinarily fit 6. The orchestra is in 9/8 there, whereas the voice is in 4/4, and we have to meet on the third beat of each measure. But when Siegfried quotes the Bird’s line, when he’s telling the story in Götterdämmerung, he uses a slight variation of the rhythm. Basically, I think Wagner was going for the freedom of an actual bird. It shouldn’t be metered—it should sound improvisatory, like a bird call. That’s how I understand that melody, [hums tune of “Hei! Siegfried gehört nun der Nibelung Hort.”] But for the other one—[hums clarinet tune from “Forest Murmurs”]—that’s an actual bird call, a wood thrush.

Really!
Yes, Messiaen notated that, and there’s a song by John Duke, “The Bird,” full of that.

A real sound made by a real, Planet Earth bird...I love the idea of all these composers out birding, jotting down in musical notation sounds they hear in nature. That’s amazing. And as you sing it, you’ve got lots of syllables.
Lots of syllables.

Harder than the Rhine Daughter’s alliterative tongue-twisters?
The alliteration helps! I can think “this is the W-line, the T-line, the F-line!” The Forest Bird is divulging information in an improvisatory but efficient manner, and it’s quite tricky.

Right, she has so much plot information. You only have four supratitles, or so, but each of them is crucial. Say, why are you giving Siegfried all this information? What’s in it for you?
I think it’s just something that nature knows, and Siegfried is connected to nature in this special way. He’s innocent and fearless—I think perhaps the birds have been saying this to him all along, but he didn’t understand it until he tasted the dragon’s blood.

Yes, the clarinet keeps chirping throughout that scene, even before he can understand...that’s the Bird TRYING to speak to him.
But I think even his whole life...

Are you guys Disney birds, you know, like all the non-speaking sidekick birds who hang out with Snow White?
I think Siegfried is this child of nature, and they’ve always been talking to him. He just hasn’t been clued in in the right way.

Yes, it’s sort of a flash of genius, on his part. In that scene where he’s trying to learn bird-language he says, basically, “If I make the same sound as the bird, maybe I’ll be able to figure out what it means.” Which is exactly how a little kid learns language—you start by imitating, mimicking what you hear.
It’s true, my daughter is learning to speak right now, and we’re constantly doing that. It’s just that with the dragon’s blood, Siegfried gets the fast track.

Siegfried (Stig Anderson) prepares a reed in an attempt to communicate with the Forest Bird in Seattle Opera's Siegfried
Chris Bennion, photo

Well, he tries, first, with his silly reed, but that doesn’t work very well. So you give him all this information...you must perceive that he’s somehow on the side of nature. I notice you don’t give Mime any help!
Yes, because Siegfried is this friend of nature. And then I think the bird gets excited that he can understand: “Now I can tell you everything!”

Right, why does she tell him about the sleeping woman on the rock?
If I didn’t, how could we possibly get to the next opera?! It’s a little bit like the scene in Götterdämmerung, where the Rhine Daughters have been begging Siegfried to give him the ring, and when he offers it to us, we insist on giving him the information about the curse. It’s the same with the bird—it’s what is fated to happen, the Norns wove it into their web. The bird is leading him to the next step: “Here’s where you have to go next.”

Handy bird to have around! Although I suppose birds have always been associated with fate, reading omens in birds, that kind of thing. Now, do you do anything, vocally, to sound more birdlike?
No. He wrote it really well, and it’s well-suited to my voice. I think of it like a trumpet: like I’m heralding this news.

How come your characters—both the Rhine Daughter and the Bird—are so well-informed? How is it that you know so much?
I don’t know, it’s in the waters, in the river...we have this curious psychic connection with the Norns, who know everything. Maybe they come for a dip in the river every once in a while!

Jennifer Zetlan singing Musetta's Waltz

Meet Our Singers: MARGARET JANE WRAY, Sieglinde & Third Norn

2013-06-18T12:21:00.000-07:00

Margaret Jane Wray has been a part of this particular Ring production since it began in 2000, singing the roles of Sieglinde and the Third Norn. She relishes the opportunity to return to these roles that have been changed and shaped by her time in Seattle, and to sing what she believes is the most beautiful music in the entire Ring.

What do you like about this production and the opportunity to come back to it?
It’s such a beautiful production. When the curtain opens, the scenery takes your breath away. The second thing would be Stephen Wadsworth, who is a wonderful director, very detail-oriented and positive. He’s friends with the singers and he cares about us and he works with us to be the best that we can be. It’s also Seattle Opera, it’s Speight, who always assembles a wonderful cast. Even though the cast has changed a bit over the years, it’s like a family. Also, Seattle is a wonderful place to work, especially during the summer.

You’re not the first to say it’s like a family. Why would you say that about this particular production?
As Wagnerians we’ve worked together in other cities. Lots of us have just come from New York for their Ring and we see each other around the world, so there’s a Wagnerian family. And we spend a long time in Seattle. Three and a half months for some people. You get to know people. We bring our children and husbands and wives and that’s part of the charm of it, too.

What kind of impact does the long rehearsal period have on the final production?
We’re so well rehearsed by the first dress rehearsal that we’re ready to go. You might not have had as much time with the orchestra as you’d want but you’re ready to go. With what’s happening in opera and in the world, rehearsing is now a luxury. I just did a production of a huge role, one of the biggest roles in the soprano repertoire, and I got one run-through in a room before I went onstage.

This Ring is incredibly detail-oriented, and that’s why it’s so successful. There is a lot of meaning between the characters, lots of tension on the stage, and you don’t see that in every Ring. I’ll go out on a limb and say this is the best Ring I’ve ever been in and I’ve been in many.

Margaret Jane Wray as Sieglinde
Chris Bennion, photo

Why is Sieglinde a character that many can sympathize with?
Probably because she’s an innocent. She’s been taken advantage of and abused, breaks out of a terrible situation and gives birth to a hero. She’s not a god, she’s human. For me, musically, she easily has the most beautiful music in the Ring. It’s just glorious music and it’s very satisfying. I’ve never gotten sick of singing it, and I feel like she’s a part of me. Her music comes back at the end of Götterdämmerung and people remember.

To some of the Ring's best music, Margaret Jane Wray (Sieglinde) thanks Brünnhilde (Janice Baird) and prophecies that Siegfried will someday thank her in person
Chris Bennion, photo

Can you characterize how the role has evolved over the years?
I had sung Sieglinde only once before I did the first Seattle production in 2000, so I was still a newbie. Until you get 10-15 performances under your belt on a particular role, it’s still considered new. Especially a big Wagnerian role. In my first production I did not have the detailed direction that I got from Stephen, so in some ways I felt like Seattle was my first time through. He really dug into it much more deeply, which was eye opening to me. Over the years we continue to dig and continue to layer the character, and as a singer I think my voice is stronger. I’m more confident as a singer.

Luretta Bybee, Margaret Jane Wray, and Stephanie Blythe as Norns #1, #3, and #2
Rozarii Lynch, photo

You are also a Norn in the first scene of Götterdämmerung. How do you shift gears?
It’s a totally different thing. It’s a short scene, but it’s extremely important because it sets up the whole of Götterdämmerung. It’s always fun to rehearse with Stephanie Blythe and Luretta Bybee. We have a sisterly rapport, so when we get to sing together, it’s always a warm and fun time.

Do you have a favorite Ring memory?
It was the second year. We drove out to Seattle, and I could not stay awake in the car. One of my colleagues, Lori Phillips (she’s covering Brünnhilde this summer) was pregnant at the time, and we were having a chat and she said, “I think you’re pregnant.” I said, “Don’t be silly!” And so, of course, I went and I took a test and I was pregnant. I remember my husband and my young son, who is now 17, jumping up in the air and saying, “Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic.” I was thinking, “I’m going to have morning sickness while I’m trying to rehearse Sieglinde!” I didn’t have morning sickness, but I remember I could not stand the smell of salmon.

Given that this is Speight’s last Ring, could you offer any thoughts on his influence on your career?
I owe a lot to Speight. I can’t imagine him retiring for one; he’s such a force of nature and he has built something so special out here in Seattle. He has kept me each year and that has meant a lot to me. He has been steadfast for me and one of the most important people as far as my career is concerned. I have been very humbled by his faithfulness. My pledge this year to him is just to have the best possible Ring we can have and enjoy every minute of it and thank him for being such a great General Director.

Meet Our Singers: RICHARD PAUL FINK, Alberich the Nibelung

2013-06-12T13:54:00.000-07:00

With our focus this week on the Nibelungs, let’s chat with THE Nibelung of “Ring of the Nibelung,” Alberich. Played by Richard Paul Fink at every Seattle Ring performance since 2000, Alberich is the tragic antihero of Das Rheingold and also appears in important scenes in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. American baritone Richard Paul Fink first appeared at Seattle Opera as Carlo Gérard in Andrea Chenier in 1996. His other Italian role here has been Amonasro in Aida (in 2008); in Seattle he sings more often in German, including (in addition to Alberich) Klingsor in Parsifal, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, and Jochanaan in Salome. Fink spoke with Jessica Murphy about balancing comedy with tragedy for this remarkable character, the wild physicality of the role, and Alberich’s love for alliteration.

Could you describe Alberich for a Ring newbie?
I basically describe him as being Sméagol, the Gollum character in The Lord of the Rings, with the physical activity but without the voice. Alberich is the person who takes the gold from the bottom of the Rhine River. He starts as this Joe Sixpack, and the power of the ring, of money and control, start to possess him. The strength of that drug becomes all-consuming.

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) vocalizes his agony when Wotan (Greer Grimsley) rips the ring away from his hand
Rozarii Lynch, photo

When Wotan takes the ring, I let out this primordial scream. My angst is over the loss of that drug; I’m in withdrawal after that. My constant question to directors is “Does Alberich evolve or devolve over the course of the Ring? Does he become more human, or do you want Alberich to become a bug on the wall?

How does Stephen [Wadsworth, director of Seattle’s production] answer that question?
Here he evolves a little bit, becoming more human over the course of the cycle. Stephen is very much into the human emotions.

Richard Paul Fink sings Alberich's curse in 2009

Has your interpretation changed over the years?
Yes. When to go, playfully, over the top...and when to focus. There is comedy with Alberich. Wagner included comedy in the Ring: slapstick, a pie in the face still works. Watching Alberich slip and slide while he chases the three Rhine Daughters is just as funny now as it was forever. The duet between Mime and Alberich is so much fun in the Seattle production. We are throwing little bean bags (we call them “dragon scat”) back and forth across the valley at each other. You need moments of levity because it makes what follows more serious. If all you have is serious and intense, you lose intensity. I also really love the stillness and the simplicity of what we’ve done with Alberich in Götterdämmerung.

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink, left) and Mime (Dennis Peterson, right) squabble over the corpse of Fafner while Siegfried is in the dragon's lair
Chris Bennion, photo

What do you like about coming back to the Seattle production?
The naturalism. Seattle has one of the last naturalistic Rings. And the people in the cast and crew are all old friends. A lot of our children have grown up together. When we first started staging this, our children's big question was, “Whose house is the sleepover going to be at tonight?”

You do a back flip, right?
I’m 58 years old and I plan on doing it again.

How did this tradition get started?
In the Seattle Rhine set, what I call “Old Smokey,” there are all these pigeon holes so you can get handholds and footholds to climb it. But they hadn’t figured out how I would get down. I asked for a crash pad back so I could do a back flip off the back platform. Then the tech crew mounted a special handle on the back of the central rock in the first scene, so I can hang on it and let myself down. They reinforced all the pigeon holes—really, the tech staff was so nice and supportive, doing everything and following through with my quirky little requests. We spray my seat with silicone so that I slide down faster.

The swimming Rhine Daughter Flosshilde (Jennifer Hines) taunts Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) in one of his most acrobatic scenes
Rozarii Lynch, photo

Are you that physical in other productions?
Being agile and as physical as possible makes you more confident as a performer. When I’m asked to enter on the prow of the Dutchman’s ship, I feel better about standing up there because I know I can handle even more extreme situations. I was just singing Rigoletto in Kansas City, and one night the heel of my shoe caught on a step as I was entering and I rolled down eight steps, into the middle of the stage by accident. But, being trained to do pratfalls, I knew I could handle it as soon as I felt myself falling. And then I got up and sang “Cortigiani!” In the Met Nixon in China, which is now on DVD, I did backflips and falls as the girls kicked me and punched me and knocked me around.

It goes back to being mascot for my high school for two and a half years...and even before that. In my neighborhood, growing up in Ohio, the kids would play “fight the invisible man,” and we’d judge each other on who fought the best: who took better punches, better pratfalls. Around that same time, with mom and dad I did a lot of camping, at a little Ohio Indian campsite there was a bullwhip on the wall and we bought it and I practiced with it–I’d go out in the yard and snap the tops off dandelions. I learned how to climb a tree with it, Daniel Boone-style. It’s that same training that has evolved over the years; I use a whip quite extensively in Das Rheingold. I give a little whip lesson to the Nibelungs because you have all these children, and it’s really loud, so I tell them, “I am in control of this, it’s going to make a loud sound but it’s not going to hurt you. If you want to cover your ears, great! That’s what we want.”

Alberich (Richard Paul Fink) threatens Mime (Dennis Peterson) with his whip when the craftsman is delinquent in delivering the magic helmet Alberich had him forge
Rozarii Lynch, photo

How do you want the audience to feel about Alberich?
Please don’t look at Alberich as being evil or malevolent from the very beginning. He’s not. His life experiences make him what he is. I always approach any character, especially villains, as multi-dimensional characters. So don’t think about him as a cardboard cutout. I have to believe what he is saying, or else the audience won’t either. Honesty, that’s what it’s all about.

What about how Alberich sounds?
In the beginning Alberich uses alliterations. Wagner really loves alliterations and the dotted rhythmic figure that infects his speech pattern. After the curse, he moves away from that, and by the time you get into Siegfried, you have these much, much longer vocal lines. I always I love the way we stage Siegfried in Seattle—Alberich is just sitting on the rock, in total darkness, like he’s been there forever, waiting for something to die.

Meet our RING Singers: LURETTA BYBEE, Valkyrie and Norn

2013-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

As this summer’s festival performances of Wagner’s Ring approach, we’ll be introducing Seattle Opera’s fantastic singers, Wagner’s memorable characters, and production elements such as the music, the costumes, and the sets on this blog and on our social networks. Let’s begin, today, by checking in with one of our singers, Luretta Bybee, who—like many in the cast—plays multiple roles in different Ring operas. Luretta made her Seattle Opera debut in 1990 as several characters in another epic opera, War and Peace. She has also been a memorable Carmen, Dame Quickly in Falstaff, and Klytämnestra in Elektra for the company; she made us laugh, as Wowkle in La fanciulla del West, and cry, as Paula in Florencia en el Amazonas and Amanda in Amelia. 2013 marks the fourth summer that Luretta, and her family, spend in Seattle working on our Ring. When she’s not in Seattle Luretta, who is Chair of Vocal Arts at New England Conservatory of Music, plays a major role in the development of the next generation of opera talent.

Luretta Bybee gave a powerful performance creating the role of Amelia's mother Amanda in Amelia in 2010
Rozarii Lynch, photo

You’ve been a Valkyrie in this production of the Ring for many years.
Yes, the first time I was involved was in the 2001 Die Walküre, I sang Schwertleite. I sang that role again in 2005, and switched to Waltraute (in Die Walküre) last time, in 2009. This summer I’m back to Schwertleite again.

What do you remember from that first experience, in 2001? What were the headlines?
That may have been my first time working with Stephen [Wadsworth, the stage director], and I was a bit overwhelmed by the detail of the staging. And I remember the amazing camaraderie of the people involved. And another thing—my husband, Greer Grimsley, who is singing Wotan now. But he sang Donner and Gunther that summer. And it was a different experience living with a Donner-Gunther than a Wotan!

How so?
For Greer, singing Gunther was a little bit like wearing the wrong size clothes. Mentally and emotionally, he was already heading towards Wotan...he was a good team player, that summer, but I think he was itching to tackle the bigger role. It took him two years to learn it, during which I coined the phrase "Wagner widow."

Eight of the Valkyries are surprised to see Brünnhilde approaching, not with a dead man, but with a live woman
Chris Bennion, photo

When I remember Ring summers gone by, it seems like the nine of you are ALWAYS rehearsing that Valkyrie scene. Is there any scene, in any opera, more dense in terms of the staging—the thousands of tiny details that add up to make it so entertaining?
The only thing I’ve ever done that compares was the Peter Brook Tragedy of Carmen. I did that in 1987, and I can still remember the staging—it was that detailed, that specific. Within a very tight framework, Brook convinced us that in fact we had a great deal of artistic leeway as performers. And though the challenge was much greater as an actor, he was absolutely right. The same is the case with this Valkyrie scene.

Does Stephen Wadsworth’s staging of the Valkyrie scene change from year to year, as the cast changes?
No, in fact, another singer had done my part, Schwertleite, in 2000, when Seattle Opera did a half-Ring with just Das Rheingold and Die Walküre. So in 2001, I was put into the part and followed her blocking. In the years since, I’ve helped other women who were new to the scene. We share this swashbuckling, swaggering attitude; that’s the tone for the scene—at least until Brünnhilde enters.

Sometimes it can be hard to tell all the Valkyries apart. Could you remind us: which one is Schwertleite?
She has a great sense of humor, and is always trying to evoke a response with her sisters.

Luretta Bybee (Schwertleite) amuses her sisters in 2005
Chris Bennion, photo

You like getting a rise out of them...like in that moment when you kiss the severed head.
Yes, I think they appreciate my sense of humor. The thing is, Schwertleite is grounded. If she’s laughing, everything is okay.

How did you and Stephen develop this personality for your Valkyrie?
Stephen is so empathetic. There was a framework, but he gave me the leeway to improvise a little bit, and as soon as I started playing with these body part props we had for the scene, he loved it and said, “Go with it!”

And is Waltraute, the Valkyrie you sang in 2009, very different?
Yes, she’s more serious, more of a stoic personality. She has a leadership role among the sisters—that much is written in the music and text.

Luretta Bybee (First Norn), Margaret Jane Wray (Second Norn), and Stephanie Blythe (Third Norn)
Chris Bennion, photo

Now, many of these years you’ve performed both as a Valkyrie and a Norn.
Yes, I sang the First Norn in 2001 and 2009, and I sing it again this summer. The Norn scene is incredibly detailed, too, but it’s easier than the Valkryie scene. Probably because the three of us—Stephanie [Blythe, the Second Norn] and Margaret Jane [Wray, the Third Norn] and I are incredibly close. We know each other so well, that makes it very easy.

Can you compare the Norns’ scene to the Valkyries’?
The Valkyries tend to be very outward-looking; they’re aware of everything external. The Norns are the opposite—all reflective, inward-looking, remembering. The Valkyries are looking to conquer and move forward, while the Norns want to go back to a better time. They sense that the end of something great and important is at hand.

Luretta, put on your voice teacher hat for a moment and let me ask you: what does it take to be a great Wagner singer?
To be perfectly honest, what it takes is, you have to be born with a great Wagner voice. You can’t train someone to sing Wagner. In my opinion we have a lot of ersatz Wagner singers, people who are trying to be Wagner singers. Particularly with this push in today’s world, to have opera singers who look like Hollywood stars. [Stage Director] Giancarlo Del Monaco once said, “If you have no horses in the stable, a donkey becomes your best horse.” What’s exciting to me about many of the Seattle Ring cast who are returning—Greer, Stephanie Blythe, Richard Paul Fink, Daniel Sumegi—is that they’re thoroughbred Wagner singers. The real deal.

Luretta Bybee, left, sang Mary in 2007 in a Seattle Opera Flying Dutchman which starred Jay Hunter Morris as Erik and Greer Grimsley (painting, at back) as the Dutchman
Chris Bennion, photo

Do you sing much Wagner?
Not a lot. I sang a small role in Flying Dutchman, and I’ve sung Fricka in Das Rheingold. I have a strong lower voice, which is necessary for Wagner, ‘cause you can get lost in the orchestra.

One thing I find that separates Wagner singers from others is the ability to sustain a longer phrase. Wagner requires stamina. They’re so long—both his vocal lines and his operas!

The story of the Ring is a family affair, and your own family has long been involved with this production. Could you tell us a little about how the three of you participate in the Seattle Ring?
Well, it’s changed over the years. In 2001, Greer sang Donner and Gunther, and our daughter Emma, who was 9 that summer, was a Nibelung. The next time we did it in Seattle, Greer switched over to Wotan and Emma...I remember one thing from that summer, Emma will kill me for telling this story, but it was so amazing to watch her start to understand what it was all about. She’d never heard Wotan’s Farewell, and the first time she heard it, in rehearsal, she started to cry—who doesn’t, at that music?—but she was a teenager with her friends, and so tried to hide the fact that she was crying! Later, she said to me, “Mom, that’s the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard, I want Daddy to sing that at my wedding!” But Greer’s response was: “No, I couldn’t possibly get through it.”

And then in 2009, Emma was 17, and Stephen invented a supernumerary character for her, the “Lady in Black” in Götterdämmerung. She appeared in Stephen’s Dutchman, too, in ’07: this punk kid with an attitude.

Is there anything in particular you’re looking forward to about this summer?
We’re looking forward to all being together and being home. Seattle is home, and the Ring is like a family reunion for us, being together with all these people we love. We’re feeling so grateful that we’re here, and healthy, and able to be together.

Jonathan Dean Speaks About Wagner in Beijing

2013-05-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Hi, I'm Jonathan Dean, your faithful Seattle Opera blogger and supertitles-guy, here to wish everyone a great Wagner's birthday and to share with you a little of the amazing week I have coming up. Over the 18 years I've had the good fortune to work for Seattle Opera, I've had many unusual adventures; but this week surpasses them all. I am traveling to Beijing, along with Seattle Opera Executive Director Kelly Tweeddale, to participate in the World Theatre Forum at China's National Centre for the Performing Arts. In honor of Wagner's bicentennial this Wednesday, I've been asked to speak about the Ring, our signature work here at Seattle Opera. The National Centre for the Performing Arts, just off Tiananmen Square, is China's biggest opera house. They've been presenting lots of western operas, although they haven't done the Ring...yet. Kelly and I are thrilled to be going to the NCPA, and I hope to check in with you later in the week and report on our experience.

For now, here's what I'm planning to say at the forum. (It was necessary to write this speech ahead of time so it could be translated into Mandarin, since many of the attendees are coming from opera companies around China. I can usually make myself understood in Italian, French, and German--languages which I translate into English for Seattle Opera's supertitles--but I haven't yet gotten very far with Mandarin!)

Jonathan Dean speaking before Seattle Opera's 2009 Ring
Alan Alabastro, photo

The Challenges and Rewards of Presenting the Ring
By Jonathan Dean

Dà jìa hăo! (Thank you so much.) It is a tremendous honor to me and to the city of Seattle that I have this opportunity to speak to you about Wagner and Der Ring des Nibelungen, today, as May 22, Wagner’s 200th birthday, dawns in the Far East. I am here on behalf of Speight Jenkins, General Director of Seattle Opera, who unfortunately couldn’t be here at the World Theatre Forum today because, in about 24 hours, when May 22 concludes in the Far West, he’ll be cutting a giant birthday cake at a tremendous birthday party for Wagner in Seattle.

I could tell you a lot of things we’ve learned at Seattle Opera about putting on a good production of the Ring; I could tell lots of entertaining (and sometimes horrifying) stories about things we’ve learned the hard way, about how NOT to present the Ring: stories about prop malfunctions, casting mistakes, ill-conceived designs, orchestral problem-spots, and, of course, special effects disasters, including the mermaid who swam into a dragon by mistake and the magic fire that burned a little TOO brightly.

But in Wagner’s honor, I’d rather talk today about why. Why did Glynn Ross, the founding General Director of Seattle Opera, decide in 1973 that our fledgling company should attempt to scale this Mt. Everest of the opera world? Why are we still putting it on, forty years later? Why do so many opera lovers become Ring fanatics, following productions of Wagner’s Ring to the ends of the earth, forever yearning, like Goethe’s Faust, for some unattainably perfect ideal production? What is this hunger people have, to experience this mighty work and make it their own, to find new ways of listening to it, approaching it, thinking about it? Why, for so many of us, is the Ring the work we’d take with us to a desert island—the one opera I wish everyone had a chance to attend?

To begin with, the Ring is unique—unique in its challenges and in the rewards it offers. There is nothing else like it in the world of music: nothing so vast in ambition and scale, so organically unified, and yet so popular and accessible. In drama, film, and narrative fiction there may be works of art that have much in common with the Ring; but because the Ring tells its story through music, such comparisons are ultimately meaningless. The Ring is one of a kind, like Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling, Dante’s Commedia, or the Xī Yóu Jì. We pursue it because it is very large and we are very small, and we know our lives will be richer if we engage with even a little bit of this amazing work.

No opera has so much in it. It touches pretty much every field of inquiry the mind can pursue: it is at home in every department at a university, every section in a newspaper. Wagner took a wondrous legend from ancient northern Europe, arranged it into drama following the theatrical tradition of ancient southern Europe, and with the most compelling music hitherto created in the West told stories that explored all the issues of his nineteenth-century European world. But these are today’s issues, too. Political issues, about the warring of the tribes and nations, about labor and capitol, power struggles between competing ideologies. And psychological issues—stories about people from broken homes, about messed-up relationships between parents and children, about love and sex and marriage and unfulfillable need. And philosophical issues: a story that questions the nature of good, the origin of evil, and that climaxes in the death of a god. In the 19th century, the Ring may have been a parable about industrialization, the most pressing issue of the day in Wagner’s Europe; for our 21st century, it certainly is a parable of environmental degradation, an issue which concerns us all. No matter who we are, we continue to find our story in the Ring.

The Ring manages to show us ourselves in the most curious way—it takes us away from our lives in order to show us our lives. Although it is attractive, at surface level, with its cast full of wonderful characters, dramatic situations, huge orchestra, and glorious voices, the Ring is too big for superficial acquaintance. Its vast size demands a commitment: you have to undertake the journey and enter its world. And as it whisks you farther and farther away from the world you thought you knew, the stranger and more wild and weird its situations get, the more you discover yourself and what is most important in your life.

We saw this feature of the Ring in a dramatic way in Seattle when we did a production of Das Rheingold, the first opera of the Ring, for elementary school children, ages 8, 9, 10 years old. For the thousands of children who became fascinated by this opera, Das Rheingold wasn’t about gods and dwarfs and giants and mermaids: it was about teasing and bullying, very real issues in the lives of every child in America. It may be easier to talk about poor loveless Alberich than your own wounded heart; but it turns out they’re the same thing. Alberich only exists in us.

The Ring rewards all those who dare enter into it and find themselves. And its rewards are also its challenges, for the Ring is nothing if not challenging.

The Ring poses enormous challenges to everyone involved. It challenges the singers, the orchestra, every department backstage, and even the audience. In America, where television and now social networking encourages short attention spans, some people find the commitment necessary to be a member of the audience for the Ring daunting. But that’s fine, Richard Wagner understood that situation, even in the 19th century, and made that choice. He envisioned a Festival Theater situation where the audience would have made a pilgrimage to his temple of art; and he would reward them for their sacrifice, for taking all that time and coming all that distance, with a work of art that was bigger, more complex, and more engrossing than what was typically offered up at their opera houses. In my experience, this question of audience commitment takes care of itself: those who shy away from the Ring are probably not ready for it; and those who are ready develop a hunger to experience the work and participate in the community that gathers around its week-long production. To put it in terms of the story, you have your timid Mimes, cringing forever inside their little caves; and also your bold Siegfrieds, ever eager for new challenges, mountains to climb and dragons to defeat. Those are the opera-goers who will rise to the challenge of the Ring, and there’s no stopping them.

The Ring is a challenge for the performers. There are no more difficult pieces that an orchestra will ever play in an opera house than the Ring. In Seattle, we’re fortunate today because of our long history with the work; our Seattle orchestra started playing the Ring a generation ago. So the musicians have the piece in their fingers (or their lips, if we’re talking about the horn players who perform Siegfried’s famous call); they’ve worked on it every few years, and many of its trickiest passages are in their muscle memory. For some, the great challenge is no longer the technical difficulties of the music, but instead the focus and stamina this vast work demands.

The singers face the same challenge and more. Vocally, singing the Ring is exhausting—it’s all night every night for many of the performers. Voices with the requisite steel to cut through Wagner’s enormous orchestra don’t grow on trees, and it can be a challenge for Young Artists Programs to identify and nurture them properly. That's why Seattle Opera inaugurated our International Wagner Competition in 2006, a competition which returns next summer.

And, although the Ring needs extraordinary voices, the performers must be better actors than they are musicians, or else the operas don’t quite work. More so than almost any other opera, the Ring is a play set to extraordinary music. Ultimately, Wagner was more interested in drama than in music, so one of the greatest challenges with the Ring is staging it properly. Each of the scenes, each of the acts, each of the operas is long and complex. Each of the scenes requires a strong beginning, a middle that ramps up the tension, and a satisfying ending. Until that shape is felt by all the artists working on the production, the scene is not ready for the audience. That makes for a challenge!

The magic tricks that go into the Ring—the dwarf that turns into a toad, the sword that cleaves an anvil apart, the dragon and earth goddess and magic fire, are literally the stuff of legend. They must not only delight the audience: it’s best to surprise the audience at each of these moments, since many will know the story and may be expecting some kind of magic trick. Getting these tricks to succeed, so that the audience squeals with joy, can be incredibly challenging. But that’s fine, we love those challenges and we will continue to rise to them as we create Ring cycles in the years to come!

It is tempting to think of the Ring as something like the nearby Great Wall, or the Great Pyramids of Egypt, you know, a phenomenon which has been there so long, and which is so vast, that its future will likely look much like its past. But that is the wrong way to think about the Ring. It hasn’t always been there—it’s only 137 years old, and it has already changed enormously over those 137 years, just as it has changed the culture around it. The Ring first revolutionized the way operas were written, then planted the seeds for cinema, and, in the years following the Second World War, changed the way all classical theater is produced in the west.

Even in remote Seattle, the Ring has meant different things over the course of its 40 year history. The company’s first Ring, which had an enormous romantic appeal not just to classical music buffs but to ‘70s hippies from up and down the west coast, might strike us as a bit simple nowadays. I can’t speak to this production from personal experience, but from my research I can tell you it was a straightforward fantasy of mythic monsters, Valkyries with winged helmets and gods in tunics, and beautiful lighting effects. I get the sense that this was a Ring that seized people’s hearts, but not necessarily one that challenged their minds. Our second Ring, which we presented between 1985 and 1995 (when I worked on it), was influenced not only by the many conceptual productions then the norm in Europe, but by the alienation-theater of Bertolt Brecht. Although you might think that Brecht would make an odd bedfellow with Richard Wagner, the pairing proved inspired: the ironic distance afforded by the staging kept the mind ever alert and focused, while the music continued to command our emotions. And our third Ring production, which premiered in 2001 and which begins rehearsal today, seeks to build on the successes of these previous productions: to enchant the heart with dazzling beauty while drawing the mind logically through Wagner’s gripping story. Technological advances in stagecraft enabled us with this production to represent the true organic chaos of nature onstage in a way that audiences find extremely satisfying—and, what’s most important, in a way that supports the storytelling.

What comes next for the Ring in Seattle? And in the world? The future of this work is up to us. It’s up to us to embrace its challenges, to meet its demands, and to reap its rewards. There are solutions that others have tried in the past; some of them have worked, others haven’t worked so well. Our responsibility is to find solutions that are ours, with whatever tools are at our disposal. We must continue to try to give life to this extraordinary work and make it available to people. Although the recent economic slump has meant that there isn’t as much opera being produced in America as there was even ten years ago, the Ring is still more accessible, to more people, today than ever before in its history. And I want to see that access continue to expand.

What are we to do with the Ring? If the story itself is any guide, we cannot just put the Ring back in the river—the cycle will simply start all over again. Nor can we hoard it, like greedy dragons in our cave, or use it to pay off old debts, like the irresponsible gods. Let us do something nobody in the story ever managed to achieve—let us find a way to share the Ring, so that people everywhere can benefit from its magic. Thank you, xiè-xiè.