Brian Garman To Conduct Seattle Opera, Makes Debut With Verdi's TRAVIATA in October

Maestro Brian Garman to Conduct Verdi's Traviata

Music Director of Young Artists Program Makes His Mainstage Company Debut

Seattle-Maestro Brian Garman will make his debut on Seattle Opera's mainstage conducting Verdi's Traviata in October. Garman steps in for previously announced conductor Vjekoslav Sutej, who has withdrawn due to illness.

Brian Garman was appointed music director of Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program last season. He has conducted the Young Artists' productions of Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Ravel's Enfant et les sortilèges, and Britten's Midsummer Night's Dream. Garman has conducted for such companies as New York City Opera and Wolf Trap Opera. As resident conductor at Pittsburgh Opera, he led productions of Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Verdi's Rigoletto, Mozart's Zauberflöte, and Massenet's Werther, among others. Garman served as music director of the Pittsburgh Opera Center, where he conducted such productions as Johann Strauss Jr.'s Fledermaus and Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.

Returning to Seattle Opera's stage for the first time in 13 years, La Traviata is a sumptuous tale of love, strife, and human drama. Arguably Verdi's most popular and accessible work, La Traviata is an irresistible classic. Nuccia Focile and Eglise Gutiérrez alternate in the role of the worldly courtesan, Violetta. The Saturday/Wednesday cast also features Dimitri Pittas as Violetta's true love, Alfredo, in his Seattle Opera debut, and Charles Taylor as his father, Germont. Along with Gutiérrez, the Sunday/Friday cast features Francesco Demuro making his U.S. debut as Alfredo, and the Seattle Opera debut of Weston Hurt as Germont. Mark Streshinsky will direct.

La Traviata opens at McCaw Hall on Saturday, October 17, and runs for nine performances through October 31, 2009. Single tickets start at $25 and are available online at seattleopera.org, by calling the box office at 206.389.7676 or 800.426.1619, or by mobile phone at mobile.seattleopera.org. Tickets may also be purchased at the box office: 1020 John Street (two blocks west of Fairview), Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Please note the following artist list for La Traviata replaces all previously released cast lists. Further information about the 2009/10 season may be found at seattleopera.org.

LA TRAVIATA

Music by Giuseppe VerdiLibretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after Alexandre Dumas
In Italian with English Captions

Marion Oliver McCaw Hall
9 Performances: October 17, 18m, 21, 23, 24, 25m, 28, 30, 31, 2009.

Approximate Running Time: 3 hours and 15 minutes, including two intermissions
Evening performances begin at 7:30 p.m.; matinees begin at 2:00 p.m.

Premiere: Teatro La Fenice, Venice, Italy, March 6, 1853
Previous Seattle Opera Presentations: 1967 (MET tour), 1973, 1980, 1988, 1996

Artists
Violetta Valéry: Nuccia Focile/Eglise Gutiérrez*
Alfredo Germont: Dimitri Pittas†/Francesco Demuro† *
Giorgio Germont: Charles Taylor/Weston Hurt†*
Flora Bervoix: Sarah Heltzel
Baron Douphol: Barry Johnson
Gastone: Leodigario del Rosario
Marquis d'Obigny: Jonathan Silvia
Dr. Grenvil: Byron Ellis
Annina: Emily Clubb

Conductor: Brian Garman†
Stage Director: Mark Streshinsky†
Set Designer: John Conklin
Costume Designer: David Walker†
Lighting Designer: Connie Yun
Choreographer: Sara de Luis
English Captions: Jonathan Dean

Sets and Costumes: San Francisco Opera

†Company Debut
* On October 18, 23, 25, and 30 only

Sarah Heltzel and Leodigario del Rosario are former Seattle Opera Young Artists.

About Seattle Opera

Founded in 1963, Seattle Opera is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. The company is recognized internationally for its theatrically compelling and musically accomplished performances, especially the Opera's interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner. Since 1975, Seattle Opera has presented 38 cycles of the Ring (three different productions), in addition to acclaimed productions of all the other major operas in the Wagner canon. Seattle Opera has achieved the highest per capita attendance of any major opera company in the United States, and draws operagoers from four continents and fifty states.