Orfeo ed Eurydice in Seattle... without the happy ending

By Philippa Kiraly, 13 January 2022

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“a cleverly devised, stripped-down production by Chía Patiño”

Reviewed at Tagney Jones Hall, Seattle on 12 January 2022

Gluck, Orfeo ed Euridice

Seattle Opera

Stephen Stubbs, Conductor

Chía Patiño, Director

Carey Wong, Set Designer

Liesl Alice Gatcheco, Costume Designer

Seattle Symphony

S Katy Tucker, Video

Ariana Wehr, Euridice

Sharleen Joynt, Amore

Christopher Ainslie, Orfeo

A rite of spring turned inward: Strauss’ Daphne at Seattle Opera

Thomas May, 16th January

Presented without staging, Seattle Opera’s concert Daphne places Strauss’ extreme vocal demands and saturated orchestral writing in sharp relief, offering a high-risk encounter with a rarely heard late opera.

****1

Mozart meets Vaudeville in Seattle's silent movie Magic Flute

Erica Miner, 22nd February

Eye-popping, hand-drawn animation melds with Mozart's fantastical world and the silent film era to create a colorful and energetic new-to-Seattle production.

***11

African American spirituals ring out in world premiere of Jubilee

Erica Miner, 12th October

A world premiere opera about the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the intrepid troupe of African American singers who changed music history.

*****

Alcina in Seattle: captivating, flirtatious, sometimes weird

Rosie Rogers, 25th October

Thoughtful cuts, an extremely skillful orchestra and active, inventive staging made this sexy dark comedy engrossing and highly watchable.

*****

Frederick Ballentine’s Loge shines in Das Rheingold

Rosie Rogers, 12th August

Despite some confused visual elements, an excellent musical performance makes Seattle Opera's production well worth watching.

****1

Huang Ruo’s riveting Bound makes Seattle Opera debut

Erica Miner, 10th June

Bound tells of a second generation of Asian immigrants, born and raised in the US, their problematic association with their cultural heritage, and the difficulties and challenges they face, bound to their culture but trying to be wholly accepted as American.

*****

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Philippa Kiraly

Philippa Kiraly has writing classical music criticism since 1980, for several newspapers in northern Ohio and Seattle, magazines, both local and national, and blogs. She has covered dance in Seattle for a decade. Pippa has been steeped in classical music since early childhood and is passionate about the importance of independent criticism for the fine arts, an art in itself. Pippa is a keen gardener, a keen grandparent, and can get lost in a good book.