Seattle Opera's Young Artists' Opera Returns

Drawing inspiration from Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, director Peter Kazaras plans to use Donald Eastman's set and Cynthia Savage's costumes in such a way that the audience will see how some of the magic of a stage performance is created. "At the Globe, they would perform the plays on two or three levels of stage with plenty of props and costumes but little or no painted scenery," said Kazaras. "During the questions and answers session after The Turn of the Screw last year, I realized people are very interested in the 'how did you do that?' aspects of opera."

Kazaras, who directed the last two Young Artist productions, is the Young Artists Program's artistic director.

He has sung with companies all over the world, including the Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin, and other international companies.

Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program attracts more than 500 applicants each year. After a rigorous audition process, ten to twelve talented singers are chosen to train with the company for twenty weeks. The participants are emerging singers who have completed their college training and are embarking on professional careers in opera.

The Young Artists study with an array of Seattle Opera staff members, coaches, and celebrated mainstage artists, and gain valuable performance experience in several outreach programs developed by Seattle Opera's Education Department. They complete their training with a fullystaged opera at the Theatre at Meyedenbauer Center. Many graduates of the program have embarked upon their career with success, for example: former participants have appeared with more than fifty opera companies throughout North America and Europe, including several who have gone on to perform mainstage roles at Seattle Opera.

This season's Young Artists appearing in Falstaff are tenor Noah Baetge from Seattle, WA, soprano Holly Boaz from Vashon, WA, mezzo-soprano Teresa Herold from Fort Fairfield, ME, baritone Joshua Jeremiah from Myerstown, PA, baritone David Lara from Buhler, KS, baritone Jonathan Lasch from Minneapolis, MN, soprano Caitlin Lynch from Detroit, MI, soprano Ani Maldjian from Los Angeles, CA, soprano Anya Matanovic from Issaquah, WA, bass-baritone Michael Anthony McGee from Dallas, TX, and tenor Marcus Glenn Shelton from Edmonds, WA.

Guest artists include tenor Ted Schmitz (a former Seattle Opera Young Artist), mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke from the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, tenor Jared Rogers (whose is an Iowa District Metropolitan Opera National Counsel auditions winner and a three-time NATS winner), and bass Marc Webster, a current member of the Juilliard Opera Center Studio.

Dean Williamson conducts Falstaff. He has conducted all of the Program's productions since 1998 and, on the Seattle Opera mainstage, conducted Offenbach's Contes d'Hoffmann in 2005. He will conduct Leoncavallo's Pagliacci for Seattle Opera in 2008. The orchestra for Falstaff is made up of members of the Auburn Symphony.

Verdi's comic opera draws its plot from the three Shakespeare plays featuring the portly rogue Sir John Falstaff (Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and The Merry Wives of Windsor). Falstaff's plots and misadventures end happily in Windsor Forest, with the marriage of two young lovers, Nannetta and Fenton.

For partygoers at Seattle Opera's annual Gala on March 31, Windsor Forest will extend into the ballroom. Tickets to Fête in the Forest include a reception and an exclusive performance of the opera, followed by an elegant dinner and dance at the Meydenbauer Center. This is the first time that Seattle Opera's black-tie Gala, which raises money for the company's educational programs, has taken place in Bellevue and included a fully staged opera.

Falstaff opens March 30, the Gala performance follows on March 31. Falstaff continues on April 1, 4, 6, and 7, and all performances take place at the Theatre at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington. Tickets are $15 for students and $35 for adults. A special $125 patron ticket supports the Young Artists Program. -- www.seattleopera.org