GENDER EXPANSIVE TRADITIONS FROM EARLY OPERA

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Julianne Gearhart (Sophie von Faninal) and Alice Coote (Octavian) in Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier, 2006. © Wah Lui

From the very beginning of the art form, opera has offered expansive possibilities for gender, sexuality, and beauty. A newcomer to the world of early opera—also known as “opera before Mozart”—will often encounter situations that transgress heteronormativity and cisnormativity.

A work like Gluck’s famous old (1762, revised 1774) opera about Orpheus for example, was written with enough space for different voice types, bodies, and genders to tell the story. At Seattle Opera, we’ve presented this piece as a love story between a man and a woman—and most recently between two women. Next year, when we give Gluck’s masterpiece, it’ll star a countertenor—a male artist who sings in a high vocal range usually associated with women.

High notes are the most exciting. Our ears are designed to collect only a certain range of pitches, and the higher a note is, the more easily we can hear it. That’s why violins are always playing the melody, while instruments like bass, tuba, and timpani support from below with harmony. This fact of acoustics explains why sopranos are so important and ubiquitous in opera today. But in the early days of opera, it was the male soprano, or castrato, who was the lead attraction.

Meet the Artist: Alexandra LoBianco

Alexandra LoBianco (Tosca) with stage manager Yasmine Kiss. Philp Newton photo

On the first day of rehearsal for Seattle Opera’s streaming Tosca, soprano Alexandra LoBianco was thrilled to post her first “rehearsal selfie” in months. “My gratitude is immense and it feels so good to be in the room, watching my beautiful colleagues work,” she wrote on Instagram. “Soaking in every moment; my soul and artistic heart are being refilled.”

A thrilling dramatic-soprano-voice has predestined her for the spotlight. But LoBianco reflects this shine back on others: her friends, cast members, students, costume/hair/and makeup artists, administrative staff, to name a few. “Lexi” doesn't take herself too seriously (just wait ‘til you read the Q&A below!). But she’s serious about opera, and the collective wisdom, energy, teamwork, and love required to make this art form great. Not just a leading lady—Lexi is a teacher, a mentor, and a leader.

QUEER OPERA THEN & NOW

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Native American transgender tenor Holden Madagame performing with Kiefer Jones at a showcase for Glyndebourne Academy 2017 participants (Sam Stephenson). Learn more about Holden's story in the independent.co.uk. 

The first queer works to be presented in opera came from the imaginations of white, gay, cisgender men. Now in the 21st century—and largely thanks to individuals and groups such as the Black Opera Alliance, Dr. Naomi André, among other Black, Indigenous, and PoC professionals—the opera stage is being illuminated as a more liberated space, where QTPOC (Queer and Trans People of Color) storytelling and artistry can thrive. But at the very beginning of queer operatic representation in the twentieth century—opera emerged as a significant art form in white gay culture.

Some of these first composers and writers to explore queer themes in opera—more or less overtly—included (from right, clockwise) Oscar Wilde, Francis Poulenc, Benjamin Britten, Leonard Bernstein, Giancarlo Menotti, and Samuel Barber. In this post we’ll consider the contributions of these men, both back when they had to be extremely discreet, and today, when it’s possible to be more direct. (Also, please check out our blog post about “Looking at opera through a queer lens”!)

LOOKING AT OPERA THROUGH A QUEER LENS

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Hanna Hipp (Isolier) and Sarah Coburn (Adele). 

When Lindy Hume directed Rossini’s 1828 opera Count Ory at Seattle Opera in 2016, gender fluidity was a key element of the production, evident in the big hair and crotch-hugging costumes reminiscent of 1970s glam rock. In the trousers role of Isolier, Hanna Hipp’s androgyny was especially striking. Her steamier moments with Adele (Sarah Coburn) suggested a queer romance between a princess and a more feminine David Bowie à la Labyrinth. 

“Seattle Opera’s new production of Rossini’s final comic opera is about the fluidity of gender, how we often don’t look like who we are, the vicissitudes of lust, and the lengths people go to get in the sack with someone,” wrote Rebecca Brown in The Stranger. 

Composers like Rossini and Mozart undoubtedly enjoyed a little transgressive frisson when creating trouser roles in operatic rom-coms like Count Ory or The Marriage of Figaro. But they likely had no idea what these characters might come to mean to viewers centuries later. In a time where people are living increasingly more liberated lives in terms of both gender expression and sexual orientation, the possibilities of queerness on the opera stage are endless—both through retellings of traditional operas and through new work.

Seattle Opera presents outdoor Die Walküre concert

Seattle Center Marketing photo

Welcome Back Concert: Die Walküre is set for 7 p.m., Saturday, Aug. 28, 2021. Tickets are $40; children 6 and under are free. Go to seattleopera.org/welcomeback. 

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m., July 12.

Come delight in the return of live music at Seattle Opera’s Welcome Back Concert: Die Walküre. Before returning to McCaw Hall this fall, the company will offer an outdoor concert featuring highlights of the Ring’s most popular opera. This famous music includes Brünnhilde’s battle cry “Hojotoho!” Wotan’s poignant farewell “Leb’ wohl,” and the incomparable “Ride of the Valkyries,” used in movies such as Apocalypse Now and The Blues Brothers. Richard Wagner’s larger-than-life masterpiece is brought to life by an acclaimed group of artists, the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and Maestro Ludovic Morlot—known for his major contributions as the symphony’s former leader.

Meet the Director: Dan Wallace Miller

Director Dan Wallace Miller joking around with Michael Chioldi (Scarpia) in between filming Seattle Opera's streaming Tosca. Philip Newton photo

As someone who’s both disarmingly zany and down-to-Earth all at once, Dan Wallace Miller brings a presence to opera that’s hard to ignore. From days of running his own company Vespertine Opera Theater, to creating Il trovatore (‘19) and our immersive opera, The Combat (‘17), the stage director possesses a distinct power: helping newcomers (including millennials and Gen Z) realize that they too, are enamored with this art form. And with Miller’s inspired take on Tosca, he shows how this centuries-old art form is as seductive and as electrifying as it ever was.