sings beautifully… exceptional”
– Metro Weekly
Tenor Freddie Ballentine and Pianist Kunal Lahiry
Fresh off his “captivating” (Bachtrack) performance as Loge in our 2023 Das Rheingold, Freddie Ballentine (Das Rheingold ’23, Charlie Parker’s Yardbird ’20, Carmen ’19) returns to Seattle Opera for a one-night-only concert. One of America’s leading tenors and the 2021 winner of the Kennedy Center’s Marian Anderson Award, Ballentine has rocketed to the top stages of the world with performances at the Metropolitan Opera, English National Opera, and Washington National Opera this year alone.
A “glowing tenor” (Opera Today) who gives a “superb performance” (Washington Classical Review) is joined by pianist Kunal Lahiry for a program featuring a variety of musical genres that will bring Seattle audiences to their feet.
The program, titled Our People, features a diverse range of repertoire exploring Black and LGBTQ experiences, from songs by Margaret Bonds, Aaron Copland, and Sergei Rachmaninoff to newer music by Nina Simone, Ricky Ian Gordon, and David Krakauer.
“We created this program to show reverence to our people. . . Not just our contemporaries, but also the beautiful queer people who came before us, whose stories never had the ending they deserved. We tell their stories, honor their memories, and rejoice in the beauty that is Our Queerness.”
–Freddie Ballentine & Kunal Lahiry
Frederick Ballentine’s Loge completely steals the show; it’s worth attending just to see this performance.”
– Bachtrack