Seattle Opera Offers Concert Presentation Of Rarely Heard Richard Strauss Opera DAPHNE

This January, Seattle Opera continues its recent tradition of offering concert presentations of rarely heard operas (Samson and Delilah in Concert '23, Les Troyens in Concert '25) with Richard Strauss's one-act pastoral tragedy, Daphne (1938).

Inspired by Greek myth, the opera is a sumptuous love song to the natural world featuring virtuosic orchestral scoring and powerhouse leading roles. Daphne in Concert brings Strauss's opera to Seattle for the first time, for two performances on January 16 and 18.

“Daphne is one of those pieces that was never really given its due. But it's an elegantly balanced opera that deserves to be heard on the world's biggest stages,” said Seattle Opera General and Artistic Director James Robinson. “It's beautifully orchestrated, it's just the right length, and it requires top-notch performers, which we certainly have. I hope audiences will enjoy this rare chance to hear one of Strauss's most idyllic works.”

Daphne follows a humble fisherman's daughter who shuns the romantic advances of men. She derives happiness instead from the beauties of the natural world. When she inadvertently invites the sun god Apollo to an orgiastic celebration of Dionysus, the revelry ultimately devolves into deceit, violence, and sacrifice. In the end, through the miracle of metamorphosis, Daphne's wish is granted: united with nature, she becomes a laurel tree.

Conductor David Afkham, Artistic Director of the Spanish National Orchestra in Madrid and a specialist in the music of Richard Strauss, tackles Daphne's daunting score for the first time. “Strauss's score is extraordinary—lush, transparent, and emotionally direct—and approaching it for the first time is truly an artistic gift,” said Afkham, who makes his Seattle Opera debut following previous appearances with the Seattle Symphony. “Strauss paints nature in sound—the rustle of leaves, the shimmer of sunlight, the sense of something divine just beneath the surface. The music surrounding Daphne's transformation is some of the most transcendent he ever wrote. Audiences have a remarkable experience to look forward to.”

Afkham will lead a total of 124 musicians, including eight principals, 86 members of the Seattle Symphony, and 30 members of the Seattle Opera Chorus, prepared by Chorus Master Michaella Calzaretta.

Stepping into the lead roles are three artists with globe-spanning careers all making their Seattle Opera debuts: soprano Heidi Stober as Daphne, tenor David Butt Philip as Apollo, and tenor Miles Mykkanen as Leukippos. While Butt Philip has previously sung Apollo at the Wiener Staatsoper and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, January's performances will be role debuts for Stober and Mykkanen.

The cast also features mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson (Fricka, Das Rheingold '23) as Gaea; soprano Meryl Dominguez (SO debut) and mezzo-soprano Sarah Coit (Mercédès, Carmen '19) as the two Maids; bass Matthew Rose (SO debut) as Peneios; and baritone Ilya Silchukou (Samuel, The Pirates of Penzance '25), tenor Martin Bakari (Greene Evans, Jubilee '24), baritone Micah Parker (Jailer, Tosca '23), and baritone Michael J. Hawk (Silvio, Pagliacci '24) as the four Shepherds.

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