Seattle Opera Tickets On Sale

Tickets are currently on sale for Seattle Opera's first-ever co-production with the Metropolitan Opera, Iphigenia in Tauris, which opens October 13 in Seattle and later travels to New York.

In January, Seattle Opera will present Ruggero Leoncavallo's beloved classic Pagliacci, featuring Italian tenor Antonello Palombi as the tragic clown Canio. The Saturday/Wednesday cast also includes Italian soprano Nuccia Focile (Focile also sings the title role in Iphigenia in Tauris) as Nedda and American baritone Gordon Hawkins as Tonio. In the Sunday/Friday cast, American tenor John Uhlenhopp sings Canio, Hungarian soprano Eva Batori sings Nedda, and British baritone Mark Holland sings Tonio.

Director Chris Alexander's production of Puccini's Tosca follows in February and March 2008. Alexander was twice voted Seattle Opera Artist of the Year. The Saturday/Wednesday cast of Tosca features the Seattle Opera debuts of American soprano Lisa Daltirus in the title role as Tosca and American tenor Frank Porretta III as her lover Mario Cavaradossi. Porretta is the son of American tenor Frank Porretta, Jr., who made his Seattle Opera debut in the 1960s, and soprano Roberta Palmer, who made her Seattle Opera debut as Tosca in 1977.

American baritone Greer Grimsley returns to Seattle Opera as the villainous Baron Scarpia, a role that he previously sang here in 2001. In the Sunday/Friday cast, Canadian soprano Michele Capalbo and American tenor Brandon Jovanovich make their Seattle Opera debuts as Tosca and Cavaradossi, and American baritone Gary Simpson will sing the role of Scarpia. Jovanovich is the Richard Tucker Award winner for 2007 and a former member of Seattle Opera's first Young Artists Program in 1998.

The season concludes in May 2008 with the Seattle Opera premiere of Bellini's I Puritani, in a new production designed by Seattle set designer Robert A. Dahlstrom, with costumes designed by Peter J. Hall for the Metropolitan Opera. This production marks the return to Seattle of such audience favorites as French soprano Norah Amsellem as Elvira (Gilda in the 2005 production of Rigoletto), American tenor Lawrence Brownlee as Riccardo (Lindoro in The Italian Girl and winner of the 2006 Richard Tucker Award), Polish baritone Mariusz Kwiecien as Riccardo (Seattle Opera Artist of the Year for his recent Don Giovanni here), and Canadian bass-baritone John Relyea as Giorgio (Seattle Opera Artist of the Year for his 2005 performance of the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann). The Sunday/Friday cast features Cuban-American soprano Eglise Gutiérrez as Elvira in her company debut, American tenor John Osborn as Arturo, American baritone and Seattle-area resident Morgan Smith as Riccardo, and Russian-American bass Denis Sedov as Giorgio.

Seattle Opera's Young Artists in Performance will feature a double bill of two "black-box style" operas at the Capitol Hill Arts Center in November: Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti and Gaetano Donizetti's Rita. Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program returns to Bellevue in March/April for a new production of two one-act operas: Ravel's spiritual fable Enchanted Child (L'enfant et les sortilèges) and Puccini's comic Gianni Schicchi.

Tickets for all performances will go on sale on September 4 to Seattle Opera subscribers. An online pre-sale will begin on September 9 for the general public, followed by phone and in-person ticket office sales on September 10, 2007.

Through its website, Seattle Opera offers a "select-a-seat" service that allows ticket buyers to see the exact location of their purchase as well as the view of the stage from their seats at McCaw Hall. -- www.seattleopera.org