Seattle Symphony- Music of Remembrance
Seattle Symphony Music of Remembrance
Soprano Soloist in world premiere by Luis Tinoco
Sunday March 16th 2025 @ 5:00 pm
Benaroya Hall, Seattle WA
Identity
Our spotlight on identity features three works by important Black American composers. Rhiannon Gidden’s At the Purchaser’s Option is a searing depiction of the slave trade. Carlos Simon’s Remember Me is drawn from his larger Requiem for the Enslaved evoking the spirit of those in captivity. Jessie Montgomery’s Source Code, building on motifs from Black spirituals, takes on an added dimension with choreography we’ve commissioned from Spectrum Dance Theater’s Donald Byrd.
The program also explores Jewish identity and its expression across time and place. The world premiere of a new work by Portuguese composer Luis Tinoco tells of the so-called “crypto-Jews” and their search for ways of practicing their faith while concealing their identity. We hear echoes of this legacy in the atmospheric Three Ancient Airs by Alberto Hemsi, a 20th-century composer who was born in Turkey into the diaspora of Sephardic Jews from Spain.
The Metropolitan Opera : El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego
Composer: Gabriela Lena Frank
Librettist: Nilo Cruz
Conductor : Yannik Nézet- Séguin
Role: Catrina (cover)
May 14,17, 22,26,30
June 3,5
American composer Gabriela Lena Frank makes her Met debut with her first opera, a magical-realist portrait of Mexico’s painterly power couple Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, with libretto by Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Nilo Cruz. Fashioned as a reversal of the Orpheus and Euridice myth, the story depicts Frida, sung by leading mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard, leaving the underworld on the Day of the Dead and reuniting with Diego, portrayed by baritone Carlos Álvarez. The famously feuding pair briefly relive their tumultuous love, embracing both the passion and the pain before bidding the land of the living a final farewell. Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts the Met premiere of Frank’s opera, a “confident, richly imagined score” (The New Yorker) that “bursts with color and fresh individuality” (Los Angeles Times). The vibrant new production, taking enthusiastic inspiration from Frida and Diego’s paintings, is directed and choreographed by Deborah Colker, following her remarkable 2024 debut staging of Ainadamar.
Composed by Gabriela Lena Frank
Libretto by Nilo Cruz
Production a gift of the Francis Goelet Endowment Fund
El Último Sueño de Frida y Diego is part of the Neubauer Family Foundation New Works Initiative
La Bohème
La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
Role: Mimì
Company: Opera Maine
Conductor: Eckart Preu
Director: Dona D Vaughn
Friday January 25, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Sunday January 27, 2025 @ 2:30 pm
Peace Imagined - Music of Remembrance
Seattle Symphony -Music of Remembrance
Soprano Soloist in works by Milad Yousufi and Simon Sargon
Benaroya Hall
October 27, 2024 @ 5:00 pm
Visions of peace have helped sustain people in the darkest of times, and inspired bold ideas and actions to create a better world. Two works by Afghani-born composer Milad Yousufi reflect his dream of making a difference to the rich culture of his troubled homeland. His Imaginary Peace is a message of hope amid a world of conflict. His I cried portrays the longing for home of a refugee wandering to an unknown destination with the hope of finding peace, love and generosity along the journey.
Simon Sargon’s Shema is a musical setting of Primo Levi’s haunting literary witness to the Holocaust, with its searing depiction of the struggle to preserve a human identity in the face of overwhelming forces bent on destroying it.
Suor Angelica
This double bill of Puccini’s operatic genius, Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi offers a compelling blend of drama and comedy. Suor Angelica delves into a poignant story of secrets, loss, and redemption. In contrast, Gianni Schicchi brings laughter with its clever plot of scandal and wit, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. These back-to-back performances take you on a rollercoaster of emotions, with stunning music and powerful storytelling.
The Hours by Kevin Puts
The Hours by Kevin Puts
Company: The Metropolitan Opera
Conductor: Kensho Watanabe
Role: Kitty/ Vanessa ( cover)
Phoenix
Phoenix (world premiere)
Composer: Sahba Aminikia
Role: Soprano Soloist
Company: Music of Remembrance
Sunday. March 10, 2024 at 5:30 pm
Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall at Benaroya Hall
Seattle, WA
MOR is proud to present two new commissions.
Phoenix is composer Sahba Aminikia and librettist Zara Houshmand's powerful musical statement about the current women's rights struggle in Iran.
Closing the program, Spectrum Dance will unite movement with music in composer Betty Olivero's "Seks Yiddishe Lider un Tantz" from The Golem.
Concert Program:
An Elegy (A Cry from the Grave) by Carlos Simon
Phoenix by composer Sahba Aminikia and librettist Zara Houshmand - MOR Commission and World Premiere
In Sleep the World is Yours by Lori Laitman
"Seks Yiddishe Lider un Tantz" from The Golem by Betty Olivero - World Premiere with Spectrum Dance
La Traviata
Opera: La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
Company: Eugene Opera
Role: Violetta Valery
Conductor: Andrew Bisantz
Director: Nathan Troup
Performance dates: January 26 @ 7:30pm and January 28 at 2:30pm
Opera in the Park at Opera Idaho
Ticket and Event InfoOpera in the Park
Saturday, July 8, 7:30 pm • free concert
Gene Harris Bandshell in Julia Davis Park
On Saturday, July 8, Opera Idaho will once again perform in the Gene Harris Bandshell at Julia Davis Park. This FREE outdoor concert features world-class soloists, the Opera Idaho Chorus, and a live orchestra under the baton of conductor Andy Anderson.
You’ll enjoy highlights from our upcoming season, opera favorites, and musical theatre selections. Over 2,000 Idahoans came last year to enjoy over two hours of free music at the Gene Harris Bandshell in Julia Davis Park. Also returning this year will be food trucks and a beer garden!
Madama Butterfly
Opera: Madama Butterfly
Company: Lyric Opera of Ireland
Venue: National Concert Hall
Role: Cio-Cio-San
Conductor: Anne Sophie Duprels
Director/Designer: Vivian Coates
La Bohème
La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
Company: Eugene Opera
Role: Mimi
Conductor: Andrew Bisantz
The Metropolitan Opera presents: The Hours
Renée Fleming makes her highly anticipated return to the Met in the world-premiere production of Pulitzer Prize–winning composer Kevin Puts’s The Hours, adapted from Michael Cunningham’s acclaimed novel. Inspired by Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and made a household name by the Oscar-winning 2002 film version starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, and Nicole Kidman, the powerful story concerns three women from different eras who each grapple with their inner demons and their roles in society. The exciting premiere radiates with star power, with Kelli O’Hara and mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato joining Fleming as the opera’s trio of heroines. Phelim McDermott—who most recently wowed Met audiences with his staging of Philip Glass’s Akhnaten—directs this compelling drama, with Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin on the podium to conduct Puts’s poignant and powerful score.
Oregon Symphony Waterfront Concert
Oregon Symphony is thrilled to bring back Portland’s favorite end of summer celebration and one of the most anticipated free community events, the Waterfront Concert and Festival. Soprano Vanessa Isiguen along with Tenor Anthony Kalil will sing under the baton of David Danzmayr.
World Premiere: Tres Minutos by Nicolas Benavides
Featuring the world premiere of Tres Minutos, the one-act opera that we’ve commissioned from composer Nicolas Benavides and librettist Marella Martin Koch, with dramaturg Hector Vega. Soprano Vanessa Isiguen and baritone José Rubio star in the roles of Nila and Diego, a sister and brother who share family bonds but not citizenship. Allowed a brief supervised reunion at the US-Mexico border that separates them, they wrestle with questions of identity, duty and belonging. The compelling work explores the intimate human dimensions of an important issue for our time.
World Premiere of Chamber Opera: Tres Minutos
Composer: Nicolas Benavides
Company: Music of Remembrance
May 15th: Nordstrom Recital Hall, Seattle, WA
May 22nd: Presidio Theatre, San Francisco, CA
La Bohème
La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini
Company: New Orleans Opera
Role: Mimì
Conductor: Joseph Colaneri
Concert- Stormy Seas
Journeys of hope. Journeys in search of freedom.
Rodas Recordada, by Sid Robinovitch, recalls the island of Rhodes’ once-thriving Sephardic Jewish community and reveals a surprising connection with Seattle. Plus a pair of haunting songs based on Ladino poems, and music by three Dutch composers touched by the Holocaust.
Rodas Ricordada, Soprano Soloist
Composer: Sid Robinovitch
Company: Music of Remembrance
Venue: Nordstrom Hall at Benaroya Hall, Seattle, WA
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini
Company: Eugene Opera
Role: Cio-Cio-San
Conductor: Andrew Bisantz