Seattle's Opera-World Gazette: 11/6/15

Introducing a new series of blog posts in which we check in on what our Seattle Opera artists are up to elsewhere. Please let us know what you think in the ‘Comments’ area!

We’ve closed The Pearl Fishers in Seattle, but all over the world our artists are keeping busy as the fall opera season continues. Here’s the latest on some folks who will be coming to Seattle soon:

Mary Elizabeth Williams sings her first Lady Macbeth.
In Switzerland, our amazing Abigaille from this summer’s Nabucco added another scary early Verdi killer to her repertoire: Mary Elizabeth Williams debuted as Lady Macbeth at the Theater St. Gallen. Watch footage of her hand-washing mad scene in this video trailer starting at 3:22:

Macbeth from theatersg on Vimeo.

Mary Elizabeth Williams returns to Seattle in February as Queen Elizabeth in Mary Stuart.

Joyce El-Khoury and Christopher Alden in Toronto.
Joyce El-Khoury makes her Seattle debut in February as Mary Stuart. The Lebanese soprano sings her final performance as Violetta in Canadian Opera Company’s La traviata in Toronto tonight. Tomorrow, COC closes its run of a fascinating double-bill: a new opera by Canadian composer Barbara Monk Feldman on Pyramus and Thisbe paired with two small pieces by Claudio Monteverdi, Renaissance Italy’s opera pioneer. Director Christopher Alden, whose COC Flying Dutchman comes to Seattle next May, staged this double-bill; here are some of the photos:

Duane Schuler lights Houston’s Tosca, starring Weston Hurt.
If you’re in Houston, don’t miss the chance to enjoy the work of Seattleite and famed lighting designer Duane Schuler, who comes home to light our upcoming Marriage of Figaro in January. Singing Scarpia at Houston's Saturday, November 14 performance is Weston Hurt, who terrorized the Israelites as Nabucco in Seattle this summer, and who returns to administer extreme unction to Mary Stuart this February—he sings the role of Talbot in our upcoming production of Donizetti’s political thriller.

Morgan Smith sings Starbuck in LA Opera’s Moby-Dick.
The original production of Jake Heggie’s popular whale-tale comes to LA Opera starting tomorrow, November 7, with Seattleite Morgan Smith reprising his role as the tormented first mate Starbuck. Smith, who just created the role of Jim Crowley in Seattle Opera’s world premiere of An American Dream, returns as Count Almaviva in our upcoming Marriage of Figaro. (When he was a Seattle Opera Young Artist, back in ’99, Smith sang Figaro!)

Morgan Smith as Starbuck and Joshua Guerrero as Greenhorn in LA Opera’s production of Moby-Dick (Photo: Craig T. Matthew/LA Opera)