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But in spite of the company’s commitment to Wagner, there are seasons when it is impossible to find his name on the roster. “Anybody that doesn’t love Mozart doesn’t understand music,” says Jenkins. “If you’re an opera director, you have to love Mozart, and you better love Verdi and like Puccini a lot because you’re going to be doing them.”

THE COMPETITION
This year Jenkins has launched the first Seattle Opera International Wagner Competition so that Wagner’s music can even be heard in an off year. “We started it because of our tradition and because I’m doing a Strauss opera this summer,” explains Jenkins referring to “Der Rosenkavalier.” “We thought it would be a good idea to always reiterate our Wagner connection.”

Of the 43 contestants auditioned by him last fall in Vienna, Berlin, London, Paris, Seattle and New York, eight finalists were selected to compete this month in front of a five-judge panel and audience in Seattle’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. The two top prizes are worldwide visibility as promising Wagnerian singers, and two $15,000 awards funded by the Charles Simonyi Foundation for Arts and Sciences.

“It is a real honor to be involved in the first Wagner competition in Seattle,” says award-winning mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe, who is one of the judges. “Since Speight Jenkins gave me my first big opportunity to sing Mr. Wagner’s music in Seattle’s new ‘Ring’ in 2000, it makes me very happy to be able to serve Seattle and the Wagner community by helping them find new and exciting Wagnerian talent.”

Although some of the singers have sung major roles with small and medium-sized companies, their experiences in larger houses have for the most part been limited. “I didn’t want to choose anyone who had done more than one major Wagnerian role in an opera house at the time,” says Jenkins. “I wanted people who had gotten a start and who had the benefits of being dramatic singers but hadn’t made it yet.

“Dramatic voices don’t settle until the singers are 35,” Jenkins explains. “That’s why we extended the age range to 40. Of course, there are exceptions. Jane Eaglen was singing ‘Die Walküre’ at 28; Birgit Nilsson started pretty young; and Astrid Varnay débuted at the Met at 21. Ben Heppner didn’t come into his own until his late ‘30s. He did his first ‘Meistersinger’ with me in ’89, and he was just getting started.

“They [Singers] never start out singing Wagner -- almost never. When Birgit Nilsson was asked what it took to sing Isolde, she said, ‘Sensible shoes.’ What she meant was that if you can sing Wagner, you can sing it and then it’s easy. If it isn’t easy, you shouldn’t be singing it.”

MORE INSIGHTS
“It has been said that Wagner wrote so badly for the voice that singing his music could ruin it. That’s not true,” Jenkins remarks adamantly. “Verdi is much more difficult for the voice than Wagner. Wagner knew how to write. What is true is that when people push their voices into singing Wagner before the voice is ready for it or if they don’t have the right kind of voice – then it can wreck them. One of the things that drives me crazy is when a young singer says to me, ‘Oh, I’m singing Tristan but it’s just in a small house.’ My response is always, ‘It’s Tristan, for heaven’s sake. It doesn’t matter if you’re singing it in your bathroom. You’re singing ‘Tristan und Isolde,’ and you have no business singing Tristan until your voice is ready to sing it.’ Normally that’s when you’re 40 years old. Jon Vickers refused to look at the ‘Tristan’ score until he passed his 40th birthday. Ben Heppner sang his first Tristan with me and it was a big challenge for him. Now he’s taking on Siegfried. Ben is a great singer. He’s a canny singer and won’t take on a role if he discovers when he starts rehearsing that it’s not right for him.

“The majority of dramatic sopranos who sing Isolde and Brünnhilde have voices that are natural for the roles,” Jenkins continues. “They shouldn’t be pushed into it or they’re not going to be able to do it. One of the young women in the competition has the possibility of being that kind of singer,” but Jenkins declines to name which one.

“I’m very excited about these eight people,” he says enthusiastically. “When I heard them, they sang wonderfully. I was astounded at the quality of the voices I was listening to.”

And that’s something that Jenkins should know a great deal about. “To be a good general director, you have to have a knack for choosing singers,” he says. “If I’ve put on some good shows, then I guess I do.”

In addition to “Der Rosenkavalier” and the Wagner concert, Seattle Opera’s 2006-07 season includes Rossini’s “L’Italiana in Algeri,” Mozart’s “Don Giovanni,” Handel’s “Giulio Cesare” and Puccini’s “La Bohème.”

Competition finalists include soprano Carolyn Betty from Delaware, tenor Jason Collins from South Carolina, soprano Dorothy Grandia from New York, tenor Paul McNamara and soprano Miriam Murphy from Ireland, baritone James Rutherford from England, tenor Andrew Lindsay Sritheran from New Zealand and bass Carsten Wittmoser from Germany. The alternates are South African soprano Maria Jooste and English tenor Philip O’Brien.