SEATTLE OPERA 60th ANNIVERSARY CONCERT May 11, 2024
60TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT
Seattle Opera
McCaw Hall
Seattle, WA
May 11, 2024 4pm
Sixty years is an accomplishment for any anniversary. Wedding, career, or a beloved high art institution like the Seattle Opera. I wasn’t even a thought on this planet when the Seattle Opera opened.
Through all the triumphs and trying times (there have to be some of those, right, it is an opera company), the Seattle Opera has not only survived but flourished.
It was also a bittersweet farewell to General Director Christina Schepplemann who’s five year contract was fulfilled at the end of the 2023/2024 season. It was announced last year that she would be the new General Director of La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, Belgium.
The concert was a part of the lavish Seattle Opera Gala that they hold once a year as a means of celebration and support for the company.
The program was split into two acts as it were with one intermission. A who’s who of international opera singers were called upon to celebrate the historic anniversary event. It was a joy for me to not only see and hear some of my favorite performers but to realize just how far I’ve come since that first production I reviewed back in 2019. A walk down memory lane, both near and far. Special acknowledgement to Greer Grimsley and Ginger Costa-Jackson - two of my favorite performers who I had the privilege of interviewing last year. They were both on hand for the anniversary performance and it made for an even more memorable night (if that was even possible).
Every now and then I attend events where I feel like I’m witnessing history. In the case of the 60th Anniversary Concert of the Seattle Opera, I left knowing I witnessed something once in a lifetime.
Bravo!
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts Media
Connect with Eclectic Arts Media: Social Media Links and Email
Seattle Opera
McCaw Hall
Seattle, WA
May 11, 2024 4pm
(Greer Grimsley, pictured here in SAMSON AND DELILAH IN CONCERT ('23), performed in Seattle Opera's 60th Anniversary Concert. © Sunny Martini.)
Sixty years is an accomplishment for any anniversary. Wedding, career, or a beloved high art institution like the Seattle Opera. I wasn’t even a thought on this planet when the Seattle Opera opened.
Through all the triumphs and trying times (there have to be some of those, right, it is an opera company), the Seattle Opera has not only survived but flourished.
It was also a bittersweet farewell to General Director Christina Schepplemann who’s five year contract was fulfilled at the end of the 2023/2024 season. It was announced last year that she would be the new General Director of La Monnaie/De Munt in Brussels, Belgium.
The concert was a part of the lavish Seattle Opera Gala that they hold once a year as a means of celebration and support for the company.
(Mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson. Photo © Philip Newton)
The program was split into two acts as it were with one intermission. A who’s who of international opera singers were called upon to celebrate the historic anniversary event. It was a joy for me to not only see and hear some of my favorite performers but to realize just how far I’ve come since that first production I reviewed back in 2019. A walk down memory lane, both near and far. Special acknowledgement to Greer Grimsley and Ginger Costa-Jackson - two of my favorite performers who I had the privilege of interviewing last year. They were both on hand for the anniversary performance and it made for an even more memorable night (if that was even possible).
Every now and then I attend events where I feel like I’m witnessing history. In the case of the 60th Anniversary Concert of the Seattle Opera, I left knowing I witnessed something once in a lifetime.
Bravo!
Best,
Mark Sugiyama
Eclectic Arts Media
Connect with Eclectic Arts Media: Social Media Links and Email
(The 50+ member Seattle Opera Chorus joined the celebration. Photo © Philip Newton)
Comments
Post a Comment