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Seattle Opera ticket news for 2009

Seattle Opera will begin selling single tickets to two of its 2009/10 season operas—Verdi’s La Traviata and the world premiere of Daron Aric Hagen’s Amelia—on June 20, in an online pre-sale. Phone and in-person sales begin on June 22. Single tickets for Verdi’s Trovatore and Falstaff begin September 12 (online) and September 14 for in-person and phone sales.

Verdi’s Traviata opens at McCaw Hall on October 17, 2009 and runs for nine performances through October 31. This glamorous and heartfelt portrait of a worldly courtesan forced to give up the man of her dreams is arguably Verdi’s most accessible and popular masterpiece. Returning to Seattle Opera for the first time in 13 years, this tale of masked revelry, family strife, blighted love, and selfless sacrifice is an irresistible classic.

The dazzling Nuccia Focile and Eglise Gutiérrez will alternate in the role of the courtesan Violetta. Focile was most recently seen with Seattle Opera as Nedda in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, and Gutiérrez last performed with the company as Elvira in Bellini’s Puritani. Tenors Dimitri Pittas and Francesco Demuro make their Seattle Opera debuts in the role of Violetta’s true love, Alfredo. La Traviata will feature Maestro Vjekoslav Sutej’s conducting and staging by director Mark Streshinksy, in his company debut. The lavish sets and costumes, originally created for San Francisco Opera, were designed by John Conklin and David Walker, respectively.

The world premiere of Seattle Opera’s commissioned work, Daron Aric Hagen’s Amelia, opens May 8, 2010, and runs for eight performances through May 22. A first-time mother-to-be, scarred by the loss of her pilot father during the Vietnam War, must break free from grief and anxiety to embrace healing and renewal for the sake of her husband and child, in this original American story unfolding over a 30-year period beginning in 1966. With an intensely personal libretto by poet Gardner McFall (The Pilot’s Daughter), whose father was a Navy pilot lost during Vietnam, this opera interweaves one woman’s emotional journey, the American experience in Vietnam, and elements of the Daedalus and Icarus myth, to explore the human fascination with flight. The opera’s emotional arc moves from loss to recuperation, paralysis to flight, ultimately embracing life and the creative force of love and family.

Seattle Opera has assembled many familiar faces to create the roles in this new production. William Burden and Luretta Bybee sing the roles of Amelia’s parents, with Nathan Gunn as her husband and Jane Eaglen as her aunt. Mezzo-soprano Kate Lindsey makes her Seattle Opera debut as the young mother. Gerard Schwarz will conduct Hagen’s soaring score, and Stephen Wadsworth will direct. The production team also features set designer Thomas Lynch, costume designer Ann Hould-Ward, and lights designed by Duane Schuler.