Seattle Opera has yet to present Carlisle Floyd’s best-known opera, Susannah, a tragedy that arose in response to McCarthyism. Seattle Opera presented Vanessa in 1999, under the baton of Yves Abel. Barber’s extremely lush, melodic music questions what becomes of romance in a harsh and cynical modern world. Seattle Opera first performed the piece in 1984, then reprised it in 1992, conducted by George Manahan that 1992 production is the source of these excerpts.Īmerican composer Samuel Barber won a Pulitzer for his beautiful 1958 opera Vanessa, set to a libretto by his partner, Giancarlo Menotti and inspired by the fiction of Isak Dinesen. Two years later it kick-started the career of Beverly Sills at the New York City Opera. The great Italian maestro Carlo Montanaro led our premiere production of The Consul.Īmerican composer Douglas Moore wrote this tuneful, touching riches-to-rags saga, based on true events, to a wonderful libretto by John LaTouche for Central City, Colorado in 1956. As Seattle Opera was horrified to discover when we presented this work in 2013, not much had changed. Giancarlo Menotti wrote libretto and music to The Consul after World War II, partly to protest the dismal post-war situation with immigration and the crushing bureacracy of mid-twentieth century life. Here’s a catalogue full of links to that music, with the operas listed in the order in which they were originally created. Musical highlights from Seattle Opera’s productions of many American operas are now available on SoundCloud. In terms of numbers of performances and tickets sold, Porgy and Bess is certainly the most popular American opera our company has given.īut we’ve presented a smattering of other American operas over the years, as various and diverse as our sprawling melting pot of a nation. We’ve had a great experience putting on Porgy and Bess this summer! This production was the fourth time Seattle Opera has presented what many consider the greatest of all American operas.
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