Maestro Mueller encouraged me, supported me, and taught me so much about the style of bel canto singing. At the conclusion of the masterclass, he walked directly to Speight Jenkins' office and said to him, 'Do you realize that you have a star in the Young Artist Program?' I don't consider myself a star, but I so appreciate the enthusiasm both he and Speight had for me. He was there conducting a mainstage opera at the time, but so graciously agreed to work with us. 'As a member of Seattle Opera's Young Artists Program, I sang for him in a masterclass in the fall of 2000. “Edoardo Mueller was so very important to me, especially in the beginning of my career,' says tenor Lawrence Brownlee, who stars as Count Ory at Seattle Opera this summer.

He was also a gifted teacher, and Seattle Opera’s Young Artists regularly benefited from his wisdom. So Mueller not only conducted the opera, he sang the role of Norma at the final rehearsal so she could rest up for opening night! His work as conductor and accompanist built on an extraordinarily comprehensive understanding of vocal technique and Italian style, so it was no wonder that he was a wonderful singer himself. Not only had the soprano originally cast in this most demanding of title roles withdrawn from the production, her late-arriving replacement, the young and then-unknown-in-Seattle Jane Eaglen, had caught a cold en route to Seattle. Here in Seattle, he became a legend following a stressful rehearsal of Norma in January 1994. He was always welcome at opera companies in New York, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Detroit. Also a well-known recitalist, he conducted and performed all over the world, but he made a special home in San Diego, where he conducted 45 opera productions between 1980 to 2011. His breakthrough came in 1973, when he conducted Rossini’s Mosè at the inauguration of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Florence (substituting for Georges Prêtre). Born in Trieste, Mueller began his career assisting such legendary Italian maestros as Tullio Serafin and Vittorio Gui.

Seattle opera schedule 2016