THE OPERA Otello, Giuseppe Verdi’s penultimate opera, is the culmination of a lifetime of opera masterpieces and his swan song in the tragic genre. Keeping cl­osely to Shakespeare’s play, Otello follows the tragedy of the Moorish general’s love for his beautiful wife Desdemona, his deception by the incomparably evil Iago, and the terrifying consequences of doubt ­and jealousy.

THE CAST Joining us for this regal production is Italian tenor Antonello Palombi as Otello. “Here is a tenor with that exciting, emotionstirring, head-turning Italianate sound,” writes The Seattle Times. The stunning young Italian soprano Maria Luigia Borsi is Desdemona in her U.S. debut. On the podium is acclaimed maestro Robert Spano who has, according to The New York Times, “that great skill in a conductor of making every performance radiate joy.”