Speight Jenkins: key obituary facts
Is Speight Jenkins dead? Yes. Speight Jenkins died on May 30, 2026, at age 89.
Cause of death: Speight Jenkins's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Speight Jenkins known for?
Speight Jenkins was an American music director and critic.
More about Speight Jenkins
Born: January 31, 1937.
Occupations: Journalist, music critic.
Speight Jenkins, the American music director and critic who guided Seattle Opera for more than three decades, died on May 30, 2026, at age 89.
Born in Dallas, Texas, on January 31, 1937, he studied at the University of Texas at Austin and earned a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1961 before serving in the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
Jenkins then turned to music journalism, working as news and reports editor at Opera News and later as music critic at the New York Post from 1973 to 1981. He also appeared as a host on Live from the Metropolitan Opera and as a guest speaker on Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts. From 1983 to 2014, he served as general director of Seattle Opera.