Newsletter Article Series Issue 5 - The Arts in Seattle

4. Seattle and the Arts

For being a relatively young city, Seattle has a thriving arts scene. Its performance arts are anchored by three renowned institutions: the Seattle Opera, the Seattle Symphony and the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Meanwhile, the city has over two dozen live theater venues and nearly a hundred theater companies. Next to New York City, Seattle has more equity theaters than any other city in America.

The Emerald city is home to five major art museums. That may not sound like a lot but compared to the older cities of the eastern United States and Europe, Seattle’s fine art scene is quite impressive.

The Seattle Opera performs at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at the Seattle Center. The opera company built its reputation on performing Richard Wagner’s Ring Cycle. In 1975, they were the first North American opera company to perform the four-part Ring Cycle within the span of week since the Metropolitan Opera did it in 1939.

As a reminder to those who may have forgotten their Wagner, the Ring Cycle is comprised of four operas: Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, and Das Rheingold. Each of the four operas is very long, and depending on whom you ask, very tedious. Despite that rousing review, the Ring Cycle is the operatic equivalent of the Lord of the Rings. In other words, the Ring Cycle is opera’s most prestigious event.

Besides performing the Ring Cycle on an annual basis, the company also performs other classic operas as well as commissioned works.

For most of their productions, including the Ring Cycle, the Seattle Opera uses the talents of the Seattle Symphony. Founded in 1903, the Seattle Symphony is one of the world's most-recorded orchestras. They perform in Benaroya Hall with its state-of-the-art acoustics. The hall is situated in downtown Seattle at 200 University Street. Annually, over 315,000 people attend the symphony’s performances.

The Grammy nominated and Emmy award winning Seattle Symphony is known for playing the works of 20th century composers, especially compositions by . . .

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