Orpheus & Eurydice

January 12‒30, 2022

Overview

The word “unreal” was justifiably invoked many times after this performance to describe his [Key'mon W. Murrah] expressive and effulgent vocal acrobatics.”

–Schmopera

Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck; Libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi

How far would you be willing to go for true love? Travel with Orpheus through an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of darkness and light, as he seeks to rescue his beloved wife Eurydice from the underworld. Set in the intimate Tagney Jones Hall at the Opera Center, with three principal singers and a small orchestra, this captivating production offers a front-row seat to sublime melodies and breathtaking drama. Chía Patiño, former head of Ecuador’s National Theatre, creates an all-new production that puts viewers in the midst of the action, and blurs the line between fantasy and reality.

Performance Information

Tagney Jones Hall, Opera Center

Evening performances at 7:30 PM. Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM

Sung in Italian.

Performance Time: Approximately 65 minutes with no intermission.

Movie-style Rating: PG or PG-13

COVID Safety

The safety of our artists, staff, and you, our audience members, are our first priority. Safety protocols are reviewed on an ongoing basis and the latest information is always on our safety page.

Proof of vaccination is required at the door for all Opera Center events. Children under 12 and people with a medical condition or closely held religious belief that prevents vaccination must provide proof of a recent negative COVID-19 test. In addition, masks will be required at all Seattle Opera performances next season regardless of vaccination status. Read our safety page for specific details on these policies.

Safety Protocols

Cast

Christopher Ainslie

Orfeo

Countertenor
At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Orpheus, Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Freiburg, Germany
Seattle Opera Debut
Recently: Arsamene, Serse (Göttingen Handel Festival); Prince Gogo, Le Grande Macabre (Semperoper Dresden); Unulfo, Rodelinda (Teatro Real, Madrid and Opera de Lyon); David, Saul (Théâtre du Châtelet)
Upcoming: Bach St. Matthew Passion (Netherlands Bach Society/Oregon Bach Festival); Oberon, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Malmö Opera)

Last Updated: November 2021

Christopher Ainslie

Orfeo

Seattle Opera Debut
Jan. 12, 14, 16m, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29m, 30m

Key'mon W. Murrah

Orfeo

Countertenor
At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Orpheus, Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Louisville, KY
Seattle Opera Debut
Recently: Bertarido, Rodelinda (Aspen Music Festival and School); Mago, Rinaldo (Glimmerglass); Asprano, Motezuma (American Baroque Opera Co.)
Upcoming: Leonardo, Frida and Diego (San Diego Opera); Hamor, Jephta (Komische Oper Berlin); Hyacinthus, Apollo et Hyacinthus (American Baroque Opera Co.)

Last Updated: November 2021

Key'mon W. Murrah

Orfeo

Seattle Opera Debut
Jan. 13, 15, 19, 21, 23m, 27, 29

Ariana Wehr

Eurydice

Soprano
At Seattle Opera in 2024/25: First Lady, The Magic Flute

Hometown: Batesville, IN
Seattle Opera Debut: Eurydice, Orpheus and Eurydice (’22)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Nurse/Girlfriend 1/Congregant 1, Blue ('22)
Engagements: Nurse/Girlfriend 1/Congregant, Blue (Pittsburgh Opera and The Glimmerglass Festival); Abigail Williams, The Crucible (Glimmerglass Festival); Despina, Così fan tutte (Opera in the Heights); Micaëla, Carmen (Opera Louisiane); Susanna, Le nozze di Figaro (Washington National Opera); Gretel, Hansel and Gretel (Washington National Opera and Brava! Opera Theatre)

Last Updated: August 2024

Ariana Wehr

Eurydice

Seattle Opera Debut
Jan. 12, 14, 16m, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29m, 30m

Shelly Traverse

Eurydice

Soprano
At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Annina, La Traviata
At Seattle Opera in 2023/24: Wellgunde, Das Rheingold

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: Hero, Beatrice and Benedict ('18)
Seattle Opera Chorus Member since 2015
Previously at Seattle Opera: First Bridesmaid, The Marriage of Figaro (’22); Songs of Summer LIVE! (’21); Eurydice, Orpheus and Eurydice (’21); Chan Parker, Charlie Parker's Yardbird (’20)
Engagements: Pamina, The Magic Flute (Vashon Opera); Lucia, The Rape of Lucretia (Tacoma Opera); Soprano, The Little Match Girl Passion (Eugene Opera)

Last Updated: January 2023

Shelly Traverse

Eurydice

Jan. 13, 15, 19, 21, 23m, 27, 29

Sharleen Joynt

Amore

Soprano
At Seattle Opera in 2024/25: Queen of the Night, The Magic Flute

Hometown: Ottawa, Canada
Seattle Opera Debut: Controller, Flight (’21)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Morgana, Alcina ('23); Amore, Orpheus and Eurydice (’22)
Engagements: Bess, Breaking the Waves (Detroit Opera); Cunegonde, Candide (Ravinia Music Festival, Opéra National de Lyon); Musetta, La bohème (Vancouver Opera); Winnie, Sky on Swings (Opera Philadelphia); Zerbinetta, Ariadne auf Naxos (Oper Leipzig); Gilda, Rigoletto (Opera Colorado)

Last Updated: December 2023

Sharleen Joynt

Amore

Jan. 12, 14, 16m, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29m, 30m

Deanna Breiwick

Amore

Soprano
At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Amore, Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut
Recently: Nannetta, Falstaff (Bayerische Staatsoper); Drusilla, L’incoronazione di Poppea (Opernhaus Zürich); Bradamante/Pittura, Il palazzo incantato (Opéra di Dijon, Opéra national de Lorraine, Royal Opera of Versailles)
Upcoming: Oscar, Un ballo in maschera (Bayerische Staatsoper); Naiad, Ariadne auf Naxos (The Metropolitan Opera); Italian Singer, Capriccio (Bayerische Staatsoper)

Last Updated: November 2021

Deanna Breiwick

Amore

Seattle Opera Debut
Jan. 13, 15, 19, 21, 23m, 27, 29

Creative Team

Stephen Stubbs

Conductor

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: The Combat (’17)
Recently:La morte d’Orfeo (LA Opera); La descente d’Orphée aux enfers (Opera UCLA); San Giovanni Battista (Opera Omaha)
Upcoming: Pimpinone (Boston Early Music Festival); The Combat (Kentucky Opera); Monteverdi’s Orfeo, (Pacific MusicWorks, Seattle)

Last updated: November 2021

Stephen Stubbs

Conductor

Chía Patiño

Director

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Director, Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Quito, Ecuador
Seattle Opera Debut
Recently: Suite Española: Explorando Iberia (HGODigital); Cinderella (Northern Lights Music Festival); Tosca (Northern Lights Music Festival); Don Giovanni (Butler Opera Center)
Upcoming: Cruzar la Cara de la Luna (Butler Opera Center); Florencia en el Amazonas (Opera Tenerife, Spain)

Last Updated: November 2021

Chía Patiño

Director

Seattle Opera Debut

Donald Byrd

Choreographer

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Clearwater, FL
Seattle Opera Debut: Julius Caesar (’07)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Charlie Parker's Yardbird ('20); Semele ('15); Aida (’08)
Recently: Julius Caesar (The Atlanta Opera); And the sky is not cloudy all day (Pacific Northwest Ballet); Greenwood (Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre); Love and Loss (Pacific Northwest Ballet); Oklahoma (5th Avenue Theater); The Color Purple (Broadway)

Last updated: November 2021

Donald Byrd

Choreographer

Carey Wong

Scenic Designer

At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Scenic Designer, Bound

Hometown: Portland, OR
Seattle Opera Debut: Cinderella (’77)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Orpheus and Eurydice (’22); Madame Butterfly (’89); Abduction from the Seraglio (’82); Fidelio (’80)
Engagements: Scenic Designer, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (Indiana Repertory Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Theatre Under the Stars, Houston); Something's Afoot (5th Avenue Theatre); The World Transformed (Portland Chinatown Museum & Seattle Children's Theatre); Ms. Holmes & Ms. Watson - Apt. 2B (Portland Center Stage); Hello, Dolly! (Village Theatre)

Last Updated: March 2023

Carey Wong

Scenic Designer

Liesl Alice Gatcheco

Costume Designer

Costume Designer
At Seattle Opera in 2022/23: Costume Designer, A Thousand Splendid Suns

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: Costume Shop Stitcher, Carmen (’03)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Costume Designer, Orpheus and Eurydice (’21); Flight (’21); The Elixir of Love (’21); Don Giovanni (’20)
Engagements: Costume Designer, A Thousand Splendid Suns (Seattle Opera)

Last Updated: December 2021

Liesl Alice Gatcheco

Costume Designer

Robert Aguilar

Lighting Designer

Lighting Designer
At Seattle Opera in 2024/25: Les Troyens in Concert

Hometown: Sunnyside, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: Lighting Designer, Orpheus and Eurydice ('22)
Engagements: The Skin of Our Teeth, Fat Ham, Laughs in Spanish (Seattle Rep); Mary Poppins, Something’s Afoot, Waitress (5th Avenue Theatre); The Hobbit, A Christmas Story (Pittsburgh Public Theater); Beautiful, Once on This Island (Village Theatre); Waitress, In the Heights (Theatre Under the Stars); Golden (ACT Contemporary Theatre)

Last Updated: September 2024

Robert Aguilar

Lighting Designer

Robertson Witmer

Sound Designer

Sound Designer
At Seattle Opera in 2024/25: Jubilee; The Magic Flute; Tosca

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: The Falling & The Rising (’19)
Previously at Seattle Opera: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (’24); Das Rheingold (’23); A Thousand Splendid Suns (’23); Orpheus and Eurydice (’22); Tosca ('21); Flight ('21); Don Giovanni ('21); Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (’20)
Engagements: Sound Designer, Camelot (Village Theatre); Composer, Murder in the Alps (Laguna Playhouse)

Last updated: June 2024

Robertson Witmer

Sound Designer

S Katy Tucker

Video and Projection Designer

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Video and Projection Designer, Orpheus and Eurydice ('22)

Hometown: Beacon, NY
Seattle Opera Debut
Recently: Projection Designer, Eurydice (The Metropolitan Opera); Projection Designer, Florencia en el Amazonas (Lyric Opera of Chicago); Projection Designer, Verdi's Requiem: The Met Remembers 9/11 (The Metropolitan Opera)
Upcoming: Projection Designer, Castor and Patience (Cincinnati Opera); Projection Designer, Così fan tutte (Washington National Opera); Projection Designer, The (Re)volution of Steve Jobs (Austin, Atlanta, Kansas City)

Last updated: November 2021

S Katy Tucker

Video and Projection Designer

Seattle Opera Debut

John Keene

Chorusmaster

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Orpheus and Eurydice, The Marriage of Figaro

Hometown: Lancaster, PA
Seattle Opera Debut: Chorusmaster, Fidelio (’12)
Previously at Seattle Opera: Chorusmaster: La bohème (’21), Tosca (’21), Eugene Onegin (’20); Pianist: Angela Meade and Jamie Barton in Concert (’20), Pagliacci and Cavalleria rusticana highlights recitals (’20)

Last updated: December 2021

John Keene

Chorusmaster

Philip Kelsey

Arranger

At Seattle Opera in 2021/22: Chamber reduction, Orpheus and Eurydice

Hometown: Seattle, WA
Seattle Opera Debut: Rehearsal pianist, The Ring (’83)

Philip Kelsey has been assistant conductor for Seattle Opera since 1990. Prior to that position, he was director of the University of Oregon's opera workshop; chorusmaster/assistant conductor/music coordinator for Portland Opera; assistant professor of music at Reed College (Portland, OR); and music director of The Cantata Singers (Boston, MA). Kelsey has also served as assistant conductor, coach, or accompanist at performances of The Washington Opera, San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, and Tacoma Opera, and has been on the guest faculty of Cornish College of the Arts (1998) and the University of Washington School of Music (1999, 2000).

Last updated: December 2021

Philip Kelsey

Arranger

Orchestra, Chorus, & Additional Artists

Orchestra

Violin I
Elisa Barston, Concertmaster

Violin II
Natasha Bazhanov

Viola
Susan Gulkis Assadi

Cello
Meeka Quan DiLorenzo

Bass
Jordan Anderson

Flute
Jeffrey Barker

Oboe
Mary Lynch VanderKolk

Bassoon
Seth Krimsky

Horn
Jeffrey Fair

Harp
Valerie Muzzolini, Principal

Harpsichord
Philip A. Kelsey

Personnel Manager
Liz Kane

Assistant Personnel Manager
Keith Higgins

The Orchestra is composed of members of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra.

Chorus

Soprano
Jennifer Campbell
Karen Early Evans
Ibidunni Ojikutu
Lyndee White

Mezzo
Lorraine Burdick
Erica Convery
Melissa Plagemann
Lucy Weber

Tenor
Nathan Barnes
Andrew Etherington
Tim Janecke
Stephen Wall

Bass
Michael Dunlap
Glenn Guhr
Zachary Martin
Julian Reisenthel

Ten choristers from this roster will sing at each performance.

Dancers

Jaclyn Wheatley, Dance Captain
Vincent Michael Lopez
Kaitlyn Nguyen

Photos & Videos

Listen to the Music

Articles & Events

Key'mon w. Murrah on Hope, Heroism, and What a Countertenor Can Be

Key’mon recently sat down with Seattle Opera over Zoom for a conversation that covered his journey to becoming an opera singer, the challenges of making a career as a countertenor, his interpretation of Orpheus, and his upcoming recital.

A Conversation with Carey Wong

Set Designer for Orpheus and Eurydice

In a conversation over Zoom, Orpheus and Eurydice’s set designer, Carey Wong, sat down with Seattle Opera to discuss how he got started in opera, his vision for the Orpheus sets, and what excites him about the future of theater.

Watch Now: A Lesson On Love, Loss, And Letting Go

An Opera Talk with the Creative Team of Orpheus and Eurydice

Dramaturg Jonathan Dean sat down with stage director Chía Patiño, choreographer Donald Byrd, and conductor Stephen Stubbs to discuss the creative vision behind our new production of Christoph Willibald Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice.

Director's Note For Orpheus and Eurydice

Learn more about Stage Director Chía Patiño's concept for Orpheus and Eurydice, her doubts about Orpheus's heroism, and what this story has to teach us about love, loss, and letting go.

Conductor Stephen Stubbs Discusses Gluck And Orpheus

Orpheus and Eurydice conductor Stephen Stubbs sat down with Seattle Opera to discuss the longevity of the Orpheus myth, the story’s malleable ending, and what sets Christoph Willibald Gluck's version apart.

In Conversation with Chía Patiño

The Stage Director of Orpheus & Eurydice

Born in Ecuador, Chía Patiño was the Artistic and Executive Director of the National Theatre in Ecuador for 10 years before joining the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas-Austin in 2019 as the Stage Director for the Butler Opera Center.