Lawrence Brownlee and Thomas Lynch Named Seattle Opera
Artists of the Year

On Tuesday, July 15, during its Annual Meeting at McCaw Hall, Seattle Opera General Director Speight Jenkins announced that the company’s Artist of the Year awards went to tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who performed the role of Arturo in Seattle Opera’s production of Bellini’s I Puritani in May 2008, and to Thomas Lynch, set designer for Seattle Opera’s production of Wagner’s Flying Dutchman in August 2007 and Seattle Opera’s co-production with the Metropolitan Opera of Gluck’s Iphigenia in Tauris in October 2007.

“Larry Brownlee represents all that our Young Artists Program hope to accomplish,” said Jenkins. “He is one of the great singers of the world, and his performances in I Puritani will echo forever in the memory of those who attended them. Opera is more than fortunate to have as talented a theater designer as Tom Lynch coming into our world,” Jenkins continued. “Starting in 1988, through nine productions, he has created brilliant sets for Seattle Opera. Seattle has been further favored by his appointment as Professor in Scenic Design at the University of Washington.”

In 1991, the Seattle Opera’s Artist of the Year award was created to honor the individual singer, conductor, director, or designer who had made the most significant contribution to the success of the season. At the conclusion of the 2003/04 season, Seattle Opera began honoring two Artists of the Year for the season: one a conductor, director, or designer; the other a singer. This is the company’s seventeenth annual selection of Artist of the Year.