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What can you get at a performance like The Combat that you cannot get at McCaw Hall? The current Seattle Opera rehearsal studios/administrative building where The Combat takes place.

But in The Combat, we’re taking the oldest opera that there is, a work by Monteverdi, and using it in a contemporary and socially-relevant way. Opera gets a bad rap for being the antiquated creation of dead white guys. I love that Seattle Opera is trying to create difficult and pointed dialogues through our art. I was so happy (Seattle Opera Education & Community Engagement Director) Barbara Lynne Jamison approached me about The Combat-the chance to do what I’ve done independently, but this time with more resources. It's an extension of my whole body of work thus far, which has been super non-traditional shows. Tell me about your vision for The Combat. He makes his official Seattle Opera directing debut now with The Combat, a production which The Stranger called "a profound experience of theater" created by a "visionary director." Ultimately, Miller went on to create his own opera company, Vespertine Opera Theater. Later, it was cultivated by legendary Seattle Opera director/singer Peter Kazaras, who became Miller's mentor and teacher. For Miller, the seed of directing was planted at age 4 by opera-loving parents during his first Ring cycle.

But for Stage Director Dan Wallace Miller, the roots of his artistry go deep in the Wagnerian tradition of Seattle Opera. Not everyone can call themselves a homegrown Seattle Opera artist.
