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| J'Nai Bridges as Dido in our 2025 concert performance of Berlioz's Les Troyens at McCaw Hall. © David Jaewon Oh |
Once hailed by Black Entertainment Television as “the Beyonce of opera,” J’Nai Bridges is a three-time Grammy winner who has performed at the top opera houses across the United States and Europe. Best of all, she’s our hometown star.
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| © Stephanie Girard |
In our recent conversation with mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke, we discuss what she’s been up to since her last appearance in Seattle back in 2016, recounting several memorable performances. We talk about what it means to debut Carmen, particularly at this point in her career. What’s more, Sasha gives us a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how she’s preparing for the show.
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| Photo courtesy of the Lavender Names Project |
To extend the reach of this important story, the Fellow Travelers tour consortium is partnering with the American LGBTQ+ Museum on the Lavender Names Project, a nationwide, grassroots archival research and community outreach initiative that will share the stories of LGBTQ+ community members who were fired or discriminated against by local and federal governments. Here are a few of their stories.
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| Kevin Newbury, Stage Director of Fellow Travelers. © Marcus Shields |
This February, Seattle Opera will present Fellow Travelers, one of the most frequently performed new operas of the past decade, in collaboration with New York-based artistic collective Up Until Now, as part of a national project that brings this important story to stages across the country. We sat down to chat with Kevin Newbury, Director of Fellow Travelers, about his experience bringing this story to life over the last 10 years, the importance of telling queer stories, and how this show continues to impact audiences.
In the 1950s, the United States was in the grip of the Cold War, a nuclear standoff with the Soviet Union. The struggle was seen by many not only as a military matter but also as a moral crusade against the threat "atheistic communism" posed to the values of the Judeo-Christian West. And homosexuality was at the center of the struggle.
With Daphne In Concert, two performances only on
January 16 & 18, Seattle Opera offers another unique live musical
experience, building on the success of our 2023 Samson & Delilah and
2025 Les Troyens. At an opera in concert, the full orchestra is onstage,
with the singers pushed all the way downstage, so their voices are even closer
to you. Although the show doesn’t feature scenery or costumes, the music, with
a little help from lighting design & supertitles, will create the story
directly inside your imagination. It’s a great way to experience incredible
music like Daphne. And for a miraculous story like this one—where the
heroine ((SPOILER ALERT!!!)) is transformed into a tree at the end—your
imagination is the most powerful collaborator of all.
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| Apollo and Daphne, a marble sculpture made by Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini, executed in 1622–1625. © Wikimedia Commons |
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| Photo: Rafa MartÃn |
Conductor David Afkham, Artistic Director of the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid and a specialist in the music of Richard Strauss, will make his Seattle Opera debut this January in Daphne in Concert. Seattle Opera recently spoke with Maestro Afkham to ask him about Strauss’s daunting score and how he prepares to conduct a new piece for the first time.
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| Reginald Smith Jr. (The Pirate King, center) with members of the Seattle Opera Chorus in The Pirates of Penzance. Photo: Sunny Martini. |
Audiences are raving about The Pirates of Penzance! Seattle Opera's first-ever Gilbert & Sullivan production, this topsy-turvy tale is a swashbuckling good time for the whole family. Read what critics have to say about this bright, colorful show and don't miss your chance to catch The Pirates of Penzance at McCaw Hall, now through November 1. Tickets and info at seattleopera.org/pirates.
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| Promotional poster for The Pirates of Penzance, c. 1880. Source: The Library of Congress. |
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| Grammy and Emmy Award winning baritone Reginald Smith Jr. makes his Seattle Opera debut in October as the Pirate King in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. Photo © Jiyang Chen |
After spending part of the summer at the Interlochen Festival, we had time to speak with baritone Reginald Smith Jr. In our chat with the Pirate King, we learn about why this role is special, his talented mother, and what he packs for life on the road.
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