ON THE TOWN It's time for

A Scene from La Traviata – Photo: Scott Suchman/ Washington National Opera; Below Seattle Opera General Director Christina Scheppelmann is the company’s fourth leader in 56 years. Photo: Philip Newton

IT'S TIME FOR A NIGHT AT THE OPERA

BY MISHA BERSON

It is a long way from her hometown of Hamburg, Germany, to Seattle. But Christina Scheppelmann has never minded travelling long distances for her career. “I’ve lived in five countries, on three continents, and Seattle is my eighth country,” says the general director of the Seattle Opera. “I’m an internationalist, not a provincialist.”

She is also an arts administrator who has never had the yen to be a professional musician herself. This very direct, highly approachable, and enthusiastic head of one of the most respected opera companies in the country acknowledges that she attended a “music high school” in Germany, studied violin, and even sang in the Hamburg State Opera youth choir. But she always knew she’d be happiest backstage, helping manage artists and musical organizations, “because it’s fun and it’s really fascinating.”

The travel perks have been great, too. Before starting her Seattle Opera post in 2019, Scheppelmann began her career representing and promoting opera singers and directors in Italy, where she got to spend time in cities including Milan and Venice. Then it was on to Barcelona, a special place because her grandfather was Spanish, her father was born in the country, and her family spoke the language at home.

Speaking of languages, Scheppelmann is fluent in five: German, Spanish, French, Italian, and English. Her impeccable English has come in very handy in the U.S. She has worked for the San Francisco Opera and spent 11 years at the Washington National Opera in Washington, D.C., overseeing artistic planning in collaboration with general director—and world renown tenor— Placido Domingo. She also did a stint in Oman, Jordan, in the Middle East.

After Aiden Lang, the previous general manager of Seattle Opera resigned, Scheppelmann threw her hat in the ring

to replace him and make another move to a new locale with her stage manager wife, Beth Krynicki. (Fun fact: The two were married in a civil ceremony by the late Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an opera buff.)

“I knew Seattle, and when I worked in San Francisco I had a great dialogue with Speight Jenkins over the years,” Scheppelmann explains. (Jenkins, as most local opera fans know, retired in 2014 after three decades developing the Seattle Opera into an internationally prominent company.)

“I would come here at least once or twice a year to see Speight and watch a production. It’s such a beautiful city, it

Above: Seattle Opera’s new civic home. Photo: Sean Airhart; Scene from Tristan and Isolde with Mary Elizabeth Williams as Isolde and Stefan Vinke as Tristan. Photo: Sunny Martini.

has water and mountains and it’s very green. And [McCaw Hall] is a very good opera house, with great acoustics and a great stage.”

Scheppelmann was well aware of the challenges that awaited her. Seattle Opera had amassed a large operating deficit, and like many other major arts organizations was aiming to bring in a younger audience to join its many older, longtime subscribers. With her vast experience and determination, she was prepared for the challenge. But less than a year after arriving, another test— unexpected and daunting—presented itself: COVID-19.

“We were closed for 18 months,” she recalls. “And we had no idea when we would be able to perform again.” With successful new vaccines, and COVID protocols for audience members and performers, the Seattle Opera got back into action earlier this year, and is now in the midst of its current season. In characteristic fashion, Scheppelmann has slated classic operas along with new works that reflect the company’s commitment to artistic excellence and cultural diversity.

Scheppelmann wants more people to know that opera is for everyone. “We need people to come back to us!” she says. “We need the ticket sales of course, but beyond that we are doing this for an audience. People have gone back to restaurants, to sports games. But what is a city without art, without theater, opera, jazz, ballet? If you want to be a big city, you have to have it!”

Below are the productions on tap by Seattle Opera at McCaw Hall (Seattle Center) through spring 2023. Operas in foreign languages are translated by supra-titles projected above the stage. Samson and Delilah: This famed opera, composed by Camille Saint-Saëns and dramatizes the biblical tale of the seduction of strongman Samson by the beguiling Delilah, will be presented in a concert version without full costuming and sets but with a complete cast and orchestra. The heralded mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, with local roots, “will sing the role of Delilah,” notes Stoppelman. “I think her mother is going to bring half of Tacoma to see her!” Plays January 20 and 22, 2023.

A Thousand Splendid Suns: This timely world premiere opera is based on a novel by Khaled Hosseini (also the author of the bestseller The Kite Runner) about a 30-year friendship between two women in war-torn Afghanistan, with a score by Sheila Silver and libretto by Stephen Kitsakos.

“It is a beautiful piece, a powerful piece,” declares Scheppelmann. “The director is a brilliant Afghan filmmaker, Roya Sadat, who left her country when the Taliban took over. She will bring a lot of authenticity to the production.” Plays Feb. 25–26, March 3, 5, 8 and 11, 2023.

La Traviata: The season will close with a presentation of this popular classic, based on the romantic 19th century novella, La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils. The tale of an alluring, ailing Parisian courtesan who falls in love with the son of one of her wealthy lovers will be seen in an acclaimed and lavishly appointed co-production with Washington National Opera, staged by leading director Francesca Zambello Plays May 6–7, 10, 13–14 anad 19, 2023

Ticket prices begin at around $35, with senior rush tickets $45. Tickets and more information: 206-389-7676 or seattleopera.org.

Misha Berson writes about the arts for crosscut. com and many other media outlets, teaches for the UW Osher program, and is the author of four books, including Something’s Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the American Imagination (Applause/Hal Leonard).

Dancing with the Muse in Old Age

BY PRISCILLA LONG REVIEWED BY VICTORIA STARR MARSHALL

Of the many ways ageism can manifest, internalized ageism can be the most insidious. Ageism flows from a social construct of age norms—rules that govern a social clock dictating the timing and order of significant life events such as marriage, parenthood, and retirement. Norms that stereotype the worth and capabilities of older adults—and young people, too, for that matter—are ageist. When we accept age stereotypes to be true when they are not, or not to the degree of the stereotype, and internalize them, it affects our choices, our behavior, even our longevity. Have you ever thought, “I’m too old to (fill in the blank)?” That’s your internalized ageism talking. You may not want to do something. You may have limiting factors such as health, strength, or disability, but the number of candles on your birthday cake is not the reason to stifle your dreams, goals, and creativity. “Dancing with the Muse in Old Age works against ageism and for creativity,” says Seattlebased author Priscilla Long. “It reflects the new ways of looking at old age—as a potentially dynamic and productive time full of connections to others and deeply satisfying work.” Long, now 79, is a meticulous researcher. In Dancing with the Muse in Old Age, she distills the best contemporary writing on aging to its essence and inspires us with the stories of creative people who never let their age be a barrier.

With a focus on the arts, Long encourages us to explore our own creative path. “In old age, craft skills, social intelligence, emotional intelligence, learning how to learn, how to connect with others all support the artist who continues to work or even one who is just starting out on a path of creative work.”

Each chapter ends with writing prompts to inspire reflection and self-discovery, such as “Is there a new creative endeavor you might enter into? If you are already an artist, perhaps something different? If you are a poet, might you learn to draw? If you are a master gardener, perhaps you would enjoy working in clay? Write on the possibilities.”

“Death can come at any age,” she writes, “but at the conclusion of old age it will come. Death is our deadline … the time remaining is not forever. This tends to focus the mind. ‘You ask: What do I need to need to finish, what work is most important for me to do in whatever time I have left? What do I want to leave behind?’”

One of the things Long recommends we can do is to model how to grow old. “As we who are now growing old shape a new sort of old age—one full of flourishing well-being, social connection, learning, moving our bodies to the extent we are able, and engaging in creative work—we are at the same time helping to reshape the future of everyone else: the middle aged, the young, the generations to come.”

GAMES FOR YOUR BRAIN

ANSWERS

(Puzzles on page 64)

Don’t Be an Idiom

1. On a roll 2. On the ball 3. On the wagon 4. On the chopping block 5. On the dot 6. On the house 7. On the stump (or on the hustings)

Name Merge

1. John Glenn Miller 2. O. Henry Kissinger 3. Washington Irving Berlin 4. Edmund Hillary Clinton 5. George C. Scott Joplin 6. Lewis Carroll O’Connor 7. Mary Martin Scorscese

Laureates in Literature

1. George Bernard Shaw 2. Sinclair Lewis 3. Eugene O’Neill 4. T. S. Elliot 5. William Faulkner 6. John Steinbeck 7. Samuel Beckett 8. Toni Morrison

for your brain

Exercise your brain and have some fun with these puzzles designed to stimulate different cognitive functions.

Don’t Be an Idiom (easy)

Complete the following sentences with the correct idiom. Each idiom will begin with the word on.

1. If you’re having success after success, you’re on a __________________________________________________________________________ 2. If the assistant you hired is well-informed and capable, she is on the _________________________________________________________ 3. If you’ve stopped drinking alcohol, you’re on the ___________________________________________________________________________ 4. If your company is laying off workers, and you know you’re on the list, then you’re on the _____________________________________ 5. If you want your guests to arrive on time, you tell them to come at seven o’clock, on the ______________________________________ 6. If your waiter brings you an appetizer that you don’t have to pay for, you’re getting it on the __________________________________ 7. If you’re on the campaign trail making speeches and asking for votes, you’re on the __________________________________________

Name Merge (harder)

Given a clue for each of two famous people, can you figure out what name they share? For example: Clarence Thomas Jefferson or Jesse James Cagney. 1. Astronaut and senator from Ohio; and one the best-known band leaders of the 1930s, whose plane disappeared over the

English Channel in 1944. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Short story author of The Gift of the Magi; and Richard Nixon’s secretary of state. ____________________________________________ 3. Author of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle; and the composer of “White Christmas” and “God Bless America.”

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. In 1953, he was the first to scale Mt. Everest; and she’s been a First Lady, a senator, and a secretary of state. ________________ 5. The actor famous for playing General Patton; and the “King of Ragtime,” who composed the “Maple Leaf Rag” in 1899.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Author who introduced millions of children to Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, and the Mad Hatter; and the actor who played

Archie Bunker. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Broadway actress best known for playing Peter Pan; and film director of Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas.

Laureates in Literature (hardest)

Given the year they won the Nobel Prize, their home nation and their most famous works, can you name these past winners of the Nobel Prize for Literature? (All of them wrote in the English language.) 1. 1925, Ireland. Pygmalion; Major Barbara; Saint Joan; Man and Superman. ______________________________________________________ 2. 1930 United States. Babbitt; Main Street; Arrowsmith; Elmer Gantry. _________________________________________________________ 3. 1936, United States. The Iceman Cometh; Long Day’s Journey into Night; A Moon for the Misbegotten. 1948, United Kingdom. The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock; The Waste Land; Murder in the Cathedral. _______________________________________________________ 5. 1949, United States. The Sound and the Fury; As I Lay Dying; Absalom! Absalom! _______________________________________________ 6. 1962, United States. Of Mice and Men; The Grapes of Wrath; Cannery Row; Travels with Charley.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. 1969, Ireland. Waiting for Godot; Endgame; Happy Days; Krapp’s Last Tape. ____________________________________________________ 8. 1993, United States. Sula; Song of Solomon; Tar Baby; Beloved. ______________________________________________________________

Reprinted with permission from Nancy Linde, author of the best-selling book 399 Puzzles, Games, and Trivia Challenges Specially Designed to Keep Your Brain Young, 417 More Games, Puzzles, and Trivia Challenges Specially Designed to Keep Your Brain Young; and 299 On-the-Go Games and Puzzles to Keep Your Brain Young. She is also the creator of the website Never2Old4Games.com, which is used by many senior-serving organizations in the U.S. and Canada. ANSWERS ON PAGE 62