Seattle Opera

Come work with us! We're hiring for:

🛠️ Head of Properties

✈️ Artist Services Manager

📆 Assistant Production Manager

Read the full job descriptions and apply at seattleopera.org/careers

Seattle Opera is committed to racial equity and to dismantling historic barriers of oppression. Everyone is encouraged to apply.

Looking for something fun (and free!) to do outside this weekend? Join us for the first annual Seattle Center Classical, a one-day festival celebrating classical music in the Pacific Northwest.

Seattle Opera artists Alexa Jarvis, Tess Altiveros, Martin Bakari, and Ilya Silchukou will perform selections from La bohème, The Pirates of Penzance, and Die Fledermaus starting at 4:00 on the International Fountain Lawn.

Plus, see performances from Seattle Chamber Music Society, Seattle Symphony, and more throughout the day, and join in a sing-along to close out the end of the festival.

Schedule of events:
12:00 PM – Opening of Seattle Center Classical and Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra
1:00 PM – Seattle Chamber Music Society
2:00 PM – Early Music Seattle
3:00 PM – Seattle Chamber Music Society
4:00 PM – Seattle Opera
5:00 PM – Seattle Symphony
5:30 PM – Community Group Sing-Along led by the Greater Seattle Choral Consortium and Farewell from Classical KING

Presented by and . The Concert Truck is made possible by Seattle Chamber Music Society

Get details at https://classicalking.org/seattlecenterclassical?utm_source=SeattleOpera

We've received an outpouring of love and affection for former General Director Speight Jenkins these past few weeks, from audience members, former employees and board members, and artists who he left a lasting impact on.

The family of Speight Jenkins would like to invite the public to the funeral on July 11 at 10:30 AM at St. James Cathedral.

All who wish to attend are welcome.

How did one question lead to a research trip to the Philippines in search of music?

During the pandemic, we asked soprano Tess Altiveros if she might record a piece from her Filipino heritage for AAPI month.

"The request landed a little heavily for me," she says, "because the truth was that—as a mixed kid whose Filipino grandparents worked so hard to assimilate their children into American culture—I wasn’t familiar with much of their Filipino culture."

While she remembers her grandmother singing arias from Puccini and Verdi, she didn't know of any Filipino songs her grandmother might have known or loved.

"I felt that sting so many mixed kids might be familiar with: that feeling of being caught in the in-between, neither white nor Filipino enough to lay claim to one identity or the other. I wanted to live in a reality where Seattle Opera could approach me and ask for a Filipino song and I could reply: Yes. I do know songs from my own heritage."

So, she asked one question: Are there Filipino art songs and arias written for classically trained singers? With a fellowship from the Seattle University Institute for Catholic Thought and Culture, and later, grants from the City of Bothell and 4Culture, she headed to the Philippines to search archives and universities, and quickly found the answer.

"It turns out, not only has the Philippines produced a plethora of gorgeous vocal repertoire, but much of it is widely known and loved there, and is already being performed on a regular basis by (primarily) Filipino singers around the world."

Tess brought some of this plethora back with her and presented her recital, "Singing the Archipelago: Art Song and Opera from the Philippines," to a sold out audience in Tagney Jones Hall this past weekend.

"My heart’s wish is that this repertoire be widely known and loved…and SUNG…by everyone. That singers and voice teachers and audiences someday hold as firm a place in their hearts and programs for the Filipino kundiman as they do for German lieder and French Chansons."

Tess will present the recital again in Juneau, AK. Follow her at Tess Altiveros, soprano for future date announcements.

We're excited to announce the return of our new-works incubator program, the Jane Lang Davis Creation Lab.

Composer Laura Kaminsky and librettist Deborah Brevoort have been named Creative Directors of the program, and will redesign the curriculum to mentor emerging composers and librettists looking to tell innovative stories as opera.

Over the course of an 18-month program, three composer-librettist teams will learn the craft of collaborative writing for the opera stage and develop 20-minute new works with support from professional composers and librettists, culminating in a presentation at the Opera Center in March 2028.

We welcome composers, songwriters, librettists, lyricists, playwrights, and poets of all genres who reside in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho and are at least 18 years of age to apply.

Applications are due August 2, 2026. Learn more about the program and application requirements at seattleopera.org/about/creation-lab/creation-lab-application-information/