A 225+ Artist Carmina Burana at Lyric Opera of Chicago November 14–18, 2025

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What you need to know about 

Carmina Burana

More than 225 artists bring Orff’s classic work to the Lyric stage

Running time: Approximately 1 hour and 5 minutes, no intermission.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents the company premiere of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, November 14–18, 2025. For three performances only, Music Director Enrique Mazzola conducts the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus in this 20th-century masterpiece, joined by soprano Jasmine Habersham, tenor David Portillo, baritone Ian Rucker, and the Uniting Voices Chicago children’s choir. From the thunderous opening chorus "O Fortuna" to passages of hushed intimacy, Carmina Burana captures the full sweep of human experience in music that is at once visceral, dramatic, and unforgettable.

Three performances only: Friday, November 14 at 7:00 p.m.; Sunday, November 16 at 2:00 p.m.; and Tuesday, November 18 at 7:00 p.m.

The songs of fate, fortune, and fleeting joy. Orff’s score is based on a set of medieval poems discovered in Bavaria, written by students and clergy between the 11th and 13th centuries. His selections explore love, lust, gambling, drinking, and the transience of life with bold rhythmic drive and theatrical force. The result is music that feels both primal and timeless, a raw spectacle of choral power, lush orchestration, and unforgettable immediacy.

Every note resonates with power and precision. Music Director Enrique Mazzola conducts the Lyric Opera Orchestra with a distinctive blend of clarity, vigor, and stylistic insight. Internationally recognized as a leading interpreter of bel canto, French repertoire, and early Verdi, he has appeared at major houses including La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, and Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as festivals from Salzburg to Glyndebourne. At Lyric, he has led productions that showcase his ability to illuminate the majesty and power of large-scale choral writing such as Mozart’s Requiem (2023/24), Verdi’s Aida (2023/24), Beethoven’s Fidelio (2024/25), and the Wondrous Sound celebration of chorus and orchestra (2024/25).

Chorus Director Michael Black directs the 100-member Lyric Opera Chorus, one of the most distinguished ensembles of its kind in the world and a cornerstone of Lyric’s performances. Renowned for the beauty of their sound and stylistic versatility, the Chorus has collaborated with conductors including Enrique Mazzola, Sir Andrew Davis, Jakub Hrůša, Marco Armiliato, Harry Bicket, James Gaffigan, and Emmanuel Villaume. In the 2024/25 Season, the Chorus showcased its versatility to new audiences across the city and surrounding areas in the Great Choral Works community tour, performing operatic favorites alongside spirituals and musical theater selections. For Carmina Burana, the Chorus is joined by 50 treble voices from Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), directed by Josephine Lee, whose artistry and youthful energy provide a brilliant complement to Orff’s massive choral forces.

A dazzling trio of soloists brings these iconic vocal lines to life. Soprano Jasmine Habersham, who made her Lyric debut in the 2024/25 Season as Ashley in Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners, has quickly become known for her radiant tone and vibrant stage presence. Chicago audiences may also know her from her starring role as Claudette Colvin in Chicago Opera Theater’s world premiere of Jasmine Barnes and Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton’s She Who Dared last summer. She has starred as Juliette in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Opera San José, Susanna in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro with Madison Opera, and Cleopatra in Handel’s Giulio Cesare with Atlanta Opera, and she recently appeared in Barcelona at the Gran Teatre del Liceu as Frasquita in Bizet’s Carmen. Her concert work has taken her to stages with the Baltimore Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and Rochester Philharmonic.

Tenor David Portillo, a distinguished alumnus of Lyric’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, has performed ten roles with the company since his debut in 2007, including Arbace in Mozart’s Idomeneo, and Andres in Berg’s Wozzeck. A regular at the Metropolitan Opera, he has sung Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and the Chevalier de la Force in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites. His credits span Glyndebourne, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, and the Salzburg Festival. Portillo was honored with the 2024 Sphinx Medal of Excellence, and his upcoming engagements include Frederic in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance with Seattle Opera and Jupiter in Handel’s Semele at Dutch National Opera.

Baritone Ian Rucker, another proud Ryan Opera Center alumnus, has built a strong presence at Lyric since his debut in the 2022/23 Season. His company appearances have included Raimbaud in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory, Moralès in Bizet’s Carmen, the Foreman in Janáček’s Jenůfa, and Schaunard in Puccini’s La Bohème. He returns in 2025/26 as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. Beyond Lyric, Rucker has performed Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Count Almaviva in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with Scottish Opera, and the title role in the world premiere of Oliver Leith’s The Story of Billy Budd at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A recent prizewinner at the prestigious Neue Stimmen competition, he has also sung at the Salzburg Festival and with Palm Beach Opera. Originally from Wisconsin, Rucker studied at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire and Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music.

The production team for Carmina Burana includes Lighting Designer Sarah Riffle and Projection Designer Adam Larsen.

A landmark premiere for Lyric. With its sheer sonic power, unforgettable choral writing, and themes that still resonate today, Carmina Burana is one of the most electrifying works in the concert repertoire. This long-awaited Lyric premiere is set to be a highlight of the Chicago cultural season.

IMPORTANT TO KNOW

· Language: Sung in Latin, Middle High German, and Old French, with easy-to-follow English titles projected above the stage.

· Pre-performance talks: Ticketholders are invited to a free 30-minute preview by Dr. Johann Buis one hour before each performance in the Ardis Krainik Theatre. Seating is unreserved; ticket required for entry.

· Accessibility: Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the Steiner Parquet coat checks at all performances. For more information, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

· Location: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/carmina or call 312.827.5600.


Lyric’s 2025/26 Season is presented by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.

Lyric’s presentation of Orff’s Carmina Burana is generously made possible by Irene D. Pritzker in honor of Michael Black.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Mary Stowell, and the Zell Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle.

Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, United Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.



About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

Join us @LyricOpera on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Facebook. #LongLivePassion

For more information, visit lyricopera.org.




Lyric Opera of Chicago
20 N. Wacker Drive
Suite 860
Chicago, IL 60606
United States

Photo: John Shaw/Lyric Opera of Chicago

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2025/26 Season kicks off With Cherubini's Medea October 11 - 26, 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

Lyric Opera of Chicago opens new season with 

Cherubini's Medea

October 11 - 26, 2025

Running time: 3 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.

Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2025/26 Season kicks off with a searing tale of vengeance and betrayal: Cherubini’s Medea, on stage October 11–26, 2025. Euripides's ancient tragedy comes to blazing life in this riveting opera, a late 18th-century masterpiece with music and themes that continue to resonate across the millennia. Medea marks the return of three Chicago-born international stars to the Lyric stage: superstar soprano Sondra Radvanovsky in an Olympic-level performance of the title role; acclaimed tenor Matthew Polenzani; and the rising star mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams. With the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Cherubini’s score delivers operatic fire and fury as never before. Lyric presents Medea for the first time in its seven-decade history in a production directed by Sir David McVicar, who returns with a sweeping vision of beauty and decay that commands attention from first note to final breath. 

Six chances to see Medea: October 11 at 7:30 p.m.; October 14, 17, 20, at 7 p.m., and matinee performances on October 23 and 26 at 2 p.m.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/medea or call 312.827.5600.

Sung in Italian, with easy-to-follow English titles projected above the stage.

Hell hath no fury like a sorceress scorned. This centuries-old tale burns with unrelenting emotional fire, and in Cherubini’s hands, it demands to be retold. Audiences witness the tragedy of Medea, a powerful sorceress betrayed by her lover, Giasone, who abandons her and their two children to marry another woman, Glauce, the daughter of the king Creonte. Given just 24 hours to accept her fate, Medea instead bends it to her will, with her accomplice, Neris, at her side, delivering vengeance that shakes the very foundations of the kingdom. A favorite of Beethoven himself, who considered Cherubini to be the greatest living composer of his time, Medea channels the raw power of Greek tragedy and sets it to unforgettable music, leaving audiences breathless as love curdles into rage, and a mother’s heartbreak becomes her most devastating weapon.

A pantheon of world-class operatic talent. Soprano Sondra Radvanovsky, who was born just outside of Chicago in Berwyn and now calls suburban Evanston home, is one of the world’s most renowned and in-demand vocal artists. She received thunderous critical and audience acclaim for her intense tour-de-force performance as Medea when the world premiere of this new co-production opened the Metropolitan Opera’s 2021/22 Season. Since beginning her Lyric career in the title role of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah in the 2002/03 Season, she has performed the heroines of Verdi, Bellini, Tchaikovsky, and more on the Lyric stage. Her innovative Lyric concert performances of The Puccini Heroines during the 2024/25 Season, in which she sang most of Puccini’s iconic arias in a single monumental program, was recorded by Pentatone for a future release. In the wake of the pandemic, Radvanovsky ushered Lyric back into live performances at the start of the 2021/22 Season with her role debut as Lady Macbeth in Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Maestro Mazzola in his first performances as Music Director.

At the Metropolitan Opera, she has regularly appeared in leading roles since her debut in 1996. A highlight of her extensive career at the Met was her 2015/16 Season portrayal of each of Donizetti’s Three Queens — the title roles of Anna Bolena and Maria Stuarda and Elisabetta in Roberto Devereux — a feat not accomplished at an American opera house since the legendary Beverly Sills sang the roles at New York City Opera in the 1970s. Radvanovsky’s Donizetti heroines were also the inspiration for her concert program The Three Queens, presented at Lyric in the 2019/20 Season and also recorded for Pentatone.

Away from the opera stage, Radvanovsky is a co-creator and co-host of the podcast and video series Screaming Divas, in which she and fellow soprano Keri Alkema talk with great humor and frankness about their lives and operatic careers.

Tenor Matthew Polenzani, an Evanston native and alumnus of Lyric’s renowned artist-training program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, is one of the most gifted and distinguished lyric tenors of his generation. In Medea, he sings Giasone, a role he performed opposite Radvanovsky at the Metropolitan Opera. His more than 15 roles at Lyric since his debut as the Captain of the Crossbowmen in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra in the 1995/96 Season include the title role in Mozart’s Idomeneo in the 2018/19 Season, and Nadir in Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers and the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto, both in the 2017/18 Season. He most recently appeared at Lyric in Mozart’s Requiem during the 2023/24 Season, with performances conducted by Maestro Mazzola.

In addition to his extensive work at Lyric, Polenzani has sung nearly 500 performances in more than 20 roles at the Met. Highlights later this season include Don José in Bizet's Carmen and Pinkerton in Puccini's Madama Butterfly at the Met, Don José at Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and Riccardo in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera at Opéra national de Paris.

He was the recipient of the 2004 Richard Tucker Award, the Met’s 2008 Beverly Sills Artist Award, and a 2017 Opera News Award.

Soprano Elena Villalón makes her much-anticipated Lyric debut as Glauce. A winner of the 2019 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and several prizes at the 2023 Operalia competition, she recently performed the role of Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto at Santa Fe Opera, and later this season she stars as Dalinda in Handel’s Ariodante at London's Royal Ballet & Opera. In the 2024/25 Season she made two major appearances in New York: as Nuria in the highly anticipated Metropolitan Opera premiere of Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar and in a solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall with pianist (and Ryan Opera Center Music Director) Craig Terry.

Exceptional ensemble cast. Mezzo-soprano Zoie Reams, a native of Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood, is Neris, a role she has performed in this co-production at Canadian Opera Company. In the 2024/25 Season she performed two roles at Lyric: the Mother in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue and Maddalena in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Also in the 2024/25 Season, she appeared with the LA Phil as part of the Eldorado Ballroom series curated by Solange Knowles for Saint Heron, singing Julia Perry’s Stabat Mater, with an additional performance with the Houston Symphony. Later this season, she returns to Lyric as a soloist in Billy Corgan’s A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness.

Renowned bass-baritone Alfred Walker sings the role of Creonte. He has appeared at Lyric as Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio in the 2024/25 Season and as the Father in Humperdinck’s Hansel and Gretel in the 2022/23 Season. Later this season, he takes on the role of Porgy in the Metropolitan Opera’s production of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. He sang the role of Enobarbus in the San Francisco Opera’s world premiere of John Adams's Antony and Cleopatra, a role he also performed at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and at the Met, where he is a graduate of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.

Three current members of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center Ensemble also have supporting roles in Medea. Bass-baritone Christopher Humbert, Jr. is the Captain of the Guard, soprano Emily Richter is First Handmaiden, and mezzo-soprano Camille Robles is Second Handmaiden.

Passion and precision drive every beat. Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola takes the podium for this production, bringing his signature blend of elegance and intensity to the Lyric Opera Orchestra. Mazzola — “Chicago’s Maestro-Around-Town” — has quickly become a vital force in the city’s cultural scene. Internationally celebrated for his mastery of the Italian repertoire — from Donizetti and Verdi to Bellini — he brings deep stylistic insight shaped by a career spanning the world’s most prestigious stages, including recent performances at Deutsche Oper Berlin and New National Theatre Tokyo. Back home with Lyric, he continues to shape a bold new musical era with unwavering discipline, fiery enthusiasm, and a true love of the operatic form.

A bold show calls for bold leadership. Internationally acclaimed Scottish director Sir David McVicar takes the lead as both Director and Set Designer. McVicar is a frequent collaborator with Lyric; Medea will be his tenth opera with the company. McVicar brings dramatic depth and theatrical precision to each production, as seen in recent seasons in Verdi’s Don Carlos (2022/23), Verdi’s Macbeth (2021/22), and R. Strauss’s Elektra (2018/19). Known for his bold, visually striking productions, McVicar’s work has been seen at other leading opera houses of the world, including the Met, London’s Royal Ballet and Opera, and the Salzburg Festival.

Turning concept into creation. The production team for Medea includes Costume Designer Doey Lüthi in her Lyric debut; Revival Lighting Designer Clare O’Donoghue, who makes her Lyric debut recreating the work of Original Lighting Designer Paule Constable; and Projection Designer S. Katy Tucker. Chorus Director Michael Black leads the 60-member Lyric Opera Chorus, and Jo Meredith makes her Lyric debut as Movement Director.

A historic premiere launches one of Lyric’s most thrilling seasons to date. With a cast of operatic Olympians, visionary direction, and music that blazes with wrath and beauty, Medea sets the tone for a season defined by bold storytelling and emotional intensity. This spellbinding production transforms myth into music and passion into fire — an unforgettable night at the opera that proves hell hath no fury like a sorceress scorned.

Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by noted opera scholar Dr. Harris Saunders on Medea’s composition history and social context; the talks begin one hour before each performance on the main floor of the theater.

Lyric partners with the Chicago Humanities Festival to present Medea Opera Insights on Saturday, October 18 at 3:00 p.m. at the University of Chicago’s Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, Breasted Hall, 1155 East 58th Street. This event will examine and contextualize Cherubini’s Medea within the broader tradition of theatrical adaptations of the Greek tragedy by Euripides, Seneca, and Corneille. Featuring distinguished faculty from the University of Chicago’s acclaimed Classics, Theater, and Music Departments alongside the world-class artists from Lyric’s cast, this event offers a rich blend of ancient storytelling and contemporary artistic insight. Tickets and more information at chicagohumanities.org.

Following the Sunday, October 26 matinee performance, former Lyric dramaturg Roger Pines leads a discussion with the artists from Medea. Deepen your experience of this visceral production by hearing how they brought Sir David McVicar's compelling vision to life — and explore each artist’s personal connection to the opera.

Audio description, a guided touch tour of the set, and SoundShirts are available at the Sunday, October 26 matinee performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

A co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, Greek National Opera, and Canadian Opera Company.

Six chances to see Medea: October 11 at 7:30 p.m.; October 14, 17, 20, at 7 p.m., and matinee performances on October 23 and 26 at 2 p.m.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/medea or call 312.827.5600.

Lyric’s 2025/26 Season is presented by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.

Lyric’s presentation of Cherubini’s Medea is generously made possible by Lisbeth Stiffel, Julie & Roger Baskes, Marlys A. Beider, and Patricia A. Kenney & Gregory J. O’Leary.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Mary Stowell, and the Zell Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle.

Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, United Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.  

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

Join us @LyricOpera on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Facebook. #LongLivePassion

For more information, visit lyricopera.org.

Lyrica Opera of Chicago Presents Deadly Duo Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci November 1 - 23, 2025

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

When love turns lethal: What you need to know about 

Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci

Photo: John Shaw/Lyric Opera of Chicago

November 1 - 23, 2025

Running time: A total running time of 2 hours and 55 minutes, including 1 intermission.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents a murderous double feature of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci — known collectively as Cav/Pag — two timeless operas that ignite music’s most incendiary emotions, on stage November 1 – 23, 2025. While both stories of Cav/Pag are set within southern Italian culture and tradition, their themes are universal; they tell of love that consumes, and revenge that devours. This chilling Lyric production returns for the first time in more than 15 years.

Ordinary lives erupt in extraordinary ways. More than just a random double bill, the two operas of Cav/Pag are united through the verismo style they defined. This 19th-century form of Italian opera broke from the traditional focus on mythology and royalty to ground itself in the realistic and often gritty depictions of everyday life. These operas strip love of its overwrought grandeur and show it for what it can become: messy, corrosive, and even fatal. Short in length but packed with unforgettable fervor, Cav/Pag delivers quick emotional blows to the heart.

Let passion follow their lead. Lyric Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra in bringing this double production to life. Seasoned in the Italian repertoire, Mazzola turns to Cav/Pag after conducting the 2025/26 Season-opening performances of Cherubini’s Medea. Later this season, Mazzola conducts Lyric's company premiere of Orff's Carmina Burana as well as Mozart's Così fan tutte.

This Lyric production by the late Elijah Moshinsky, noted for its striking visuals and searing emotional depth, returns for the first time since the 2008/09 Season and is revived by stage director Peter McClintock. The staging threads the two operas together through the thematic foundations that drive both stories to their lethal ends.

A holy day of heartbreak. In Cavalleria rusticana, composer Pietro Mascagni sets a tender yet turbulent score against the backdrop of a Sicilian village on Easter morning, where sacred rituals can’t drown out explosive scandal. Santuzza, a woman shunned by her community and cast aside by her lover Turiddu, clings to her crumbling faith. As she pleads for forgiveness and recognition, she discovers that Turiddu has resumed his affair with Lola, who just so happens to be married to Alfio, a local cart driver. As the church bells ring, so does the call for blood to spill. In the church square, as villagers gather to celebrate, personal betrayals erupt into public vengeance.

In their Lyric debuts, mezzo-soprano Yulia Matochkina stars as the tormented Santuzza alongside tenor SeokJong Baek as Turiddu. Lyric veteran baritone Quinn Kelsey — a powerhouse alumnus of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Lyric's renowned artist-training program — returns as Alfio, the first of his two roles in this production. Another alumna of the Ryan Opera Center, contralto Lauren Decker, is Turiddu's devoted Mamma Lucia. Mezzo-soprano Camille Robles, a current member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, sings the role of Lola.

The clown isn’t laughing. The curtain rises again for Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, as a traveling troupe of performers arrives in a Sicilian village and envy and deception brew behind the scenes. Canio, the troupe’s leader, learns from Tonio that his wife and leading lady, Nedda, has taken Silvio as her lover. (Tonio also rages with an unrequited love for Nedda.) Canio must go on with the show, playing a clown whose wife betrays him — a role which hews all too close to his reality. Beneath its painted smiles and vaudeville spectacle, Pagliacci reveals a stage where illusion shatters and truth bleeds through the cracks.

Tenor Russell Thomas, a mainstay in leading roles at Lyric in recent seasons, returns to sing Canio. Soprano Gabriella Reyes, who charmed audiences as Musetta in the 2024/25 Season’s production of Puccini’s La Bohème, also returns as Nedda. In an impressive double-duty feat, baritone Quinn Kelsey also stars as Tonio. Baritone Luke Sutliff makes his Lyric debut as Silvio. Thomas and Kelsey were previously directed by McClintock in Lyric's Emmy-winning 2021 video production of Pagliacci, which was released for home streaming during the pandemic.

Worlds crumble under the weight of betrayal. Lyric’s acclaimed production of Cav/Pag captures both the beauty of traditional Sicilian village life and the charged theatricality of a traveling performance troupe. Set and costume designer Michael Yeargan creates the dramatic visual poetry of this production. Lighting designer Duane Schuler shapes the mood for these volatile tales of the soul. Under the leadership of Chorus Director Michael Black, the Lyric Opera Chorus beautifully evokes a solemn Easter morning and the celebration of a village festival.

A double dose of devastation. In Cavalleria rusticana & Pagliacci, sacred traditions give way to betrayals and become a battleground for passion and revenge. With entrancing music and unrelenting drama, Cav/Pag leaves no room for mercy and no character untouched. It is opera at its most heart-wrenching, brought vividly to life on the Lyric stage this November.

Important to know:

Eight performances only: November 1, 4, 7, 9 matinee, 12 matinee, 15, 20 matinee, and 23 matinee.

Language: Performed in Italian, with easy-to-follow projected English titles above the stage.

Pre-performance talks: Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by noted opera scholar and former Lyric dramaturg Roger Pines on the composition history and social context of Cav/Pag; the talks begin one hour before each performance in the theater's Steiner Parquet (the main floor).

Post-performance discussion: Following the Sunday, November 9 matinee performance, Roderick K. Hawkins leads a discussion with the artists of Cav/Pag.

Accessibility: Audio description, guided touch tours, and SoundShirts are available at the Sunday, November 9 matinee performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the Steiner Parquet coat checks at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

Location: Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago, IL.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/cavpag or call 312.827.5600.

Lyric’s 2025/26 Season is presented by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.

Lyric’s presentation of Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci is generously sponsored by Josef & Margot Lakonishok and Sonia Florian*.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Mary Stowell, and the Zell Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle.

Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, United Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

*deceased

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

Join us @LyricOpera on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Facebook. #LongLivePassion
For more information, visit lyricopera.org.

Lyric Opera of Chicago
20 N. Wacker Drive
Suite 860
Chicago, IL 60606
United States

Missy Mazzoli's The Listeners March 30 – April 11, 2025 at Lyric Opera of Chicago

ChiIL Live Shows On Our Radar

A new "cult" classic: Missy Mazzoli's 

The Listeners 

comes to Lyric Opera, Mar 30th, 2025

Photo: Erik Berg/Norwegian National Opera & Ballet 

Succumb to the hum: Lean in closer and experience The Listeners, the new opera by Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek

Content Advisory: The Listeners includes explicit language and sexual content, along with brief mentions of self-harm and suicide, that may be triggering or uncomfortable to some audience members. This production also includes the occasional use of strobing/flashing lights and theatrical gunfire. Recommended for mature audiences.

Performed in English with projected English titles above the stage.

A total running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.

Chicago, it’s not just in your head: The Listeners is an unusual and inescapable opera experience, a provocative thriller of unrelenting sound.

Do you hear it? The haunting hum of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners will transfix audiences at Lyric Opera of Chicago from March 30 to April 11, 2025. Conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola and presented in the world-premiere production of Lileana Blain-Cruz revived by Mikhaela Mahony, The Listeners is a theatrical experience that blends traditional opera with innovative videography and unconventional projection elements. This genre-defying opera’s unsettling narrative forewarns how isolation drives the search for human connection under the guise of an improbable sound.

The Listeners, a brand new work co-commissioned and co-produced by Lyric, Opera Philadelphia, and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, had its world premiere in Oslo in 2022 to thunderous critical praise. Now, in its longest run of stateside performances yet, The Listeners takes over Chicago’s largest stage. Let the sound consume you — if you dare.

The seduction of sound. Claire, a school teacher, whose idyllic suburban life is shattered by the arrival of a persistent hum — an unplaceable droning sound that only certain people can hear. A group of other "listeners" quickly forms around stopping the plague of sound: the community begins to take on a cultish nature when the prophet-like Howard attempts to make this group his disciples of the noise for all the wrong reasons. The Listeners is a modern American exploration of relying on community when faced with unrelenting fear. At its core, this opera asks: how much are you willing to sacrifice everything you’ve known, just to feel like you belong?

An impressive cult following. Longtime composer and librettist team Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek have garnered widespread praise for their work on The Listeners, which made a brief American premiere at Opera Philadelphia earlier this season. The production has been hailed as "the unmissable opera of the season" by The New York Times and was listed on their "6 Performances Our Classical Critics Can't Stop Thinking About." The Listeners was derived from a treatment by Jordan Tannahill, who eventually published a novel of the same title, a work that was later adapted into a critically lauded television series, released on the BBC in 2024. But the hum’s menace is most unsettling in its original operatic form.

This isn’t the first time the talents of Mazzoli and Vavrek have created magic together. Previously, they received resounding acclaim for their 2016 collaboration Breaking the Waves, which won the inaugural "Best New Opera" award from the Music Critics Association of North America and was shortlisted for "Best World Premiere" at the International Opera Awards. The powerhouse duo will reunite once again for their upcoming adaptation of the beloved George Saunders novel Lincoln in the Bardo, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.

Fall under their masterful command. Lyric’s Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra in interpreting Mazzoli’s thrilling and melodic score. Mazzola’s extensive experience conducting contemporary works was seen by Lyric audiences in the 2023/24 Season with Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion, and he previously demonstrated his agility with Mazzoli’s composition These Worlds in Us with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021, providing a solid foundation for his work on The Listeners. Earlier this season at Lyric, he conducted Verdi's Rigoletto and Beethoven's Fidelio and he will also conduct performances of Sondra Radvanovsky in Concert: The Puccini Heroines and Lyric in Concert: A Wondrous Sound. The work of Lileana Blain-Cruz, who directed the opera’s world premiere in Oslo, will be showcased on the Lyric stage for the first time. Currently the resident director at Lincoln Center Theater in New York, she was a Tony nominee for her direction of The Skin of Our Teeth. This spring, she will direct the new play Bust at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Her production of The Listeners is revived at Lyric by Mikhaela Mahony.

Devout followers that lead the way. The radiant soprano Nicole Heaston makes her Lyric debut as Claire, a role that was specifically written for her singular dramatic and vocal talents, which she portrayed in this production’s Oslo and Philadelphia performances. Alongside her recent performances in The Listeners, she most recently appeared in the title role of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa presented by the National Symphony Orchestra. Veteran bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen returns to Lyric for the first time since his 2021/22 Season appearance as Doctor Dulcamara in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, as the group leader Howard. He made his Lyric debut in the 2004/05 Season, when he appeared as Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Rising-star soprano Jasmine Habersham makes her Lyric debut in the role of Claire’s daughter, Ashley. Her most recent engagement was as Juliet in Minnesota Opera’s production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.

A hypnotic supporting cast. Howard’s cult confidant, Angela, is sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack in her return to Lyric following her debut as the Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka in the 2013/14 Season. She has recently dazzled audiences as Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego, co-produced by San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera. Tenor Jonas Hacker appears as Kyle, a high-school student who becomes tormented by the sound; Hacker starred as Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce's Fellow Travelers in Lyric’s 2017/18 Season. Paul, Claire’s husband who is overshadowed by her fixation on the hum, is sung by baritone Zachary Nelson. He previously appeared as Marcello in Lyric’s 2018/19 Season production of Puccini’s La Bohème. Nelson recently made an anticipated role debut as Alberich in Atlanta Opera’s new production of Wagner's Das Rheingold, a role he returns to later this season in the composer's Siegfried. Baritone John Moore is Dillon in his Lyric debut; he recently appeared in performances across the United States as Steve Jobs in Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.

An ensemble of twisted believers. Baritone Joseph Lim, an alumnus of Lyric’s renowned artist training program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, returns to Lyric as Thom, reprising the role he played in the Opera Philadelphia production. The cast of The Listeners also features several current members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble: sopranos Adia Evans and Gemma Nha, mezzo-soprano Sophia Maekawa, and baritone Finn Sagal.

Unapologetic creativity at its boldest. The Listeners is an unparalleled visual feat that combines modern technology with its storytelling. Through visual commentary with modern social media and "live" newscasting sequences alongside immersive sets and projections, this production envelops viewers in its cinematic spectacle. Set designer Adam Rigg, who recently designed the sets of Illinoise at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, creates the opera’s key visual environments. Working alongside him are costume designer Kaye Voyce, lighting designer Yi Zhao, and video designer Hannah Wasileski, all in their Lyric debuts. Chorus Director and Head of Music Michael Black leads the Lyric Opera Chorus, and the original choreography of Raja Feather Kelly is recreated at Lyric by revival choreographer Zoe Scofield, both in their Lyric debuts.

Ready for the hum? Featuring a score sung entirely in English (and punctuated with profanity throughout), this work delivers a darkly comedic and thought-provoking experience for contemporary audiences. The Listeners is an immersive opera that will leave Lyric patrons fearing the inescapable spell of the hum — will it consume you, too?

Important to know:

Five chances to experience The Listeners: March 30 matinee; April 2, 5, 8, and 11.

Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by noted scholar Dr. Justin Vickers on the opera’s composition history and social context; the talks begin one hour before each performance on the main floor of the theater.

Audio description and a guided touch tour of the set are available at the Sunday, March 30 matinee performance. American Sign Language interpretation and SoundShirts are available at the Wednesday, April 2 evening performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

Co-commissioned and co-produced by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Norwegian National Opera, and Opera Philadelphia.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/listeners or call 312.827.5600.

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

Join us @LyricOpera on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Facebook. #LongLivePassion

For more information, visit lyricopera.org.

Lyric Opera of Chicago

20 N. Wacker Drive

Suite 860

Chicago, IL 60606

United States

Lyric’s 2024/25 Season is sponsored by Erika Gross in loving memory of Dietrich Gross; and Julie & Roger Baskes.

Lyric’s presentation of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's The Listeners is generously made possible by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, the Zell Family Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, Mary Stowell, and the Zell Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle.

Major support for The New Work Fund provided by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation and Virginia Tobiason.

Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, American Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council.

Puccini's La Bohème Returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago March 15 – April 12, 2025 at Lyric Opera of Chicago

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Puccini's La Bohème 

Returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago, March 1, 2025

Sung in Italian, with easy-to-follow projected English titles above the stage.

A total running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, including one intermission.

What you need to know about Puccini's La Bohème

The timeless tale of Parisian romance, friendship, and tragedy returns to Lyric in a stunning new-to-Chicago production that immerses audiences in one of opera’s most beloved stories.

March 15 – April 12, 2025 at Lyric Opera of Chicago

Puccini’s masterpiece La Bohème, on stage at Lyric Opera of Chicago from March 15 to April 12, 2025, captures the essence of young love, artistic passion, and the bittersweet nature of life’s fleeting joys. An extraordinary blend of world-class performers — Pene Pati in his Lyric debut and returning favorites Ailyn Pérez, Gabriella Reyes, and Will Liverman — masterfully reenact the triumphs and struggles of bohemian Paris. Conducted by Jordan de Souza and directed by Melanie Bacaling, this poignant and visually stunning production is sure to captivate audiences of all ages with its enduring charm.

Love burns bright in the City of Light. Against the backdrop of 19th-century Paris, a group of scrappy young artists navigate the complicated social landscape of love and loss. At the center of it all is the tender love story of Rodolfo, a poet, and Mimì, a fragile seamstress. As their love blossoms, the realities of poverty and illness loom, weaving a tale of passion, sacrifice, and the enduring power of connection. This vibrant opera is bursting with soaring arias, lush ensembles, and moments of both joyous celebration and heartbreaking tragedy. Reflecting its well-deserved reputation as a classic, Puccini’s score brings the bohemian lifestyle to life like no other. From the camaraderie of Café Momus to the intimacy of Mimì and Rodolfo’s duets, La Bohème is an emotional journey that will leave audiences reaching for their handkerchiefs.

An operatic dream team. La Bohème is a showcase for the unparalleled artistry of some of opera’s most acclaimed voices.

Pene Pati leads the cast as Rodolfo in his Lyric debut. After performing on stages from San Francisco to Paris, this Samoan tenor won the 2022 Reader's Choice Award at the International Opera Awards, and has been hailed as "the most exceptional tenor discovery of the last decade." He recently made his much anticipated Metropolitan Opera debut as the Duke in Verdi’s Rigoletto.

Chicagoland native soprano Ailyn Pérez returns to Lyric to sing her signature role as Mimì. Pérez has made four previous appearances at Lyric, most recently as Adina in Donizetti's The Elixir of Love in the 2021/22 Season, and has performed as Mimì at major opera houses worldwide, including at London’s Royal Ballet and Opera and earlier this season in acclaimed performances at the Met and the Vienna State Opera. Known for her breathtaking artistry, this Richard Tucker Award winner continues to captivate audiences with her memorable portrayals of opera’s most iconic female leads.

Soprano Gabriella Reyes returns to Lyric in the role of Musetta, following her acclaimed debut as Rosalba in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas during the 2021/22 Season. Reyes has moved audiences worldwide with her dynamic artistry. She has previously performed Mimì with the Atlanta Opera and Musetta with the Met and the Philadelphia Orchestra, earning raves for her interpretations of Puccini’s beloved heroines.

Grammy Award-winning baritone Will Liverman also stars as Marcello. An alumnus of Lyric’s renowned artist-development program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Liverman is celebrated for his versatility and artistry, from dramatic and comedic roles to groundbreaking works like The Factotum, the soul-infused opera he co-created and premiered at Lyric in the 2022/23 Season. A recipient of the Met’s Beverly Sills Artist Award, he continues to thrill audiences with his dynamic performances, including recent standout roles in Terence Blanchard and Kasi Lemmons's Fire Shut Up in My Bones and Anthony Davis and Thulani Davis’s X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X.

Powerful supporting talent. Lyric is marshaling forces from around the world to bring La Bohème to life. Renowned bass Peixin Chen, playing Colline, is known for his powerful voice and dramatic range. He was last seen at Lyric as the Monk in Verdi’s Don Carlos in the 2022/23 Season and performs a diverse repertoire from comedic roles in Donizetti and Mozart to the intense characters of Verdi and Wagner. La Bohème features two current members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble. Baritone Ian Rucker plays Schaunard, after appearing as the Foreman in Janáček’s Jenůfa and as Man at Bar in Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion in Lyric’s 2023/24 Season. Fellow Ensemble member and tenor Travon D. Walker takes the stage to perform Parpignol. Winner of the 2024 Best Vocal Artist Award from the American Opera Society, Walker returns to Lyric’s stage after receiving much critical acclaim for his role as the Son in this season's production of Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s Blue. Baritone and Ryan Opera Center alumnus Levi Hernandez returns to Lyric to sing the roles of Benoit and Alcindoro, having performed Schaunard in the 2007/08 Season.

Shaping the story. Conductor Jordan de Souza makes a triumphant return to Lyric after previously leading the Lyric Opera Orchestra in Florencia en el Amazonas in the 2021/22 Season. An accomplished Puccini specialist, he led La Bohème at the Canadian Opera Company during their 2023/24 Season. De Souza was recently appointed General Music Director of Theater Dortmund and Chief Conductor of Dortmund Philharmoniker, with a five-year tenure beginning in August 2025. Alongside de Souza, Melanie Bacaling returns to Chicago to direct La Bohème. She recently worked on the world premiere of The Factotum during Lyric’s 2022/23 Season. In addition to her nation-spanning credits working on productions for the Met, the Detroit Opera, and Santa Fe Opera, she has also recently broken into the film world with her new concert docuseries The Butterfly Process: B (2022). Bacaling and de Souza bring La Bohème to renewed life in a captivating, new-to-Chicago production.

Turning vision into reality. The set design was created by Gerard Howland in his Lyric debut. Costume designer Jeannique Prospere reimagines the costumes originally designed by Peter J. Hall; lighting design is by Duane Schuler, an acclaimed designer of nearly 200 Lyric productions. Chorus Director Michael Black leads the 60-member Lyric Opera Chorus. They will be joined by Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children's Choir) under the direction of Josephine Lee.

A treasured classic back on stage. With its timeless story of affection and adversity, La Bohème continues to enchant audiences with its intense emotion and unparalleled melodies. With its stirring music and unforgettable characters, this production brings the heart of Paris to life and reminds us why La Bohème — the inspiration for the iconic Broadway musical Rent — remains one of the most beloved operas of all time.

Important to know:

Ten chances to see La Bohème: March 15, 19 matinee, 22, 25, 28, and 31 and April 3 matinee, 6 matinee, 9, and 12 matinee.

To complement the performances, Lyric presents the art exhibition La Bohème: An "American" Opera, featuring works by Ryan Opera Center stage director alumnus Luther Lewis, on view to ticketholders in the Grand Foyer. Inspired by 1990s Harlem and Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood, this vibrant exhibit reimagines Puccini’s timeless opera through a new cultural lens and reminds modern audiences of the struggles and triumphs of being a young artist. The exhibit is also open to the public from March 18 to April 10, on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. (excluding March 27 and April 3).

Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by noted opera scholar Dr. Harris Saunders on La Bohème’s composition history and social context; the talks begin one hour before each performance on the main floor of the theater.

Audio description, a guided touch tour of the set, and SoundShirts are available at the Sunday, April 6 matinee performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.

A production of Los Angeles Opera and Dallas Opera. Production by Herbert Ross.

For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/boheme or call 312.827.5600.

About Lyric

Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences.

Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO John Mangum and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists — magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city.

Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down.

Join us @LyricOpera on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Facebook. #LongLivePassion

For more information, visit lyricopera.org.

Lyric Opera Presents Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment November 4 – 25, 2023

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Donizetti’s beloved comic opera 

The Daughter of the Regiment 

marches onto the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage

 for the first time in 50 years 

November 4 – 25, 2023

This mashup of slapstick and romance stars two of the biggest names in all of opera: Lisette Oropesa, one of the most celebrated singers of her generation, in her eagerly anticipated Lyric debut; and returning favorite Lawrence Brownlee, whose role includes the show-stopping "Ah, mes amis," sometimes dubbed the "Mount Everest" of arias. The opera also stars Ronnita Miller and Alessandro Corbelli in the first of his two comic roles this season.

The Daughter of the Regiment heralds the Lyric debut of internationally celebrated conductor Speranza Scappucci, who will soon become the principal guest conductor of London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

This iconic production by Laurent Pelly — a co-production of the Metropolitan Opera, the Vienna State Opera, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden — has received raves around the globe. Filled with dazzling arias and raucous comedy, The Daughter of the Regiment is a must-see for devoted opera lovers and newcomers alike. We hope you can join us for all of the military might and operatic delight.

NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION

The Daughter of the Regiment

Gaetano Donizetti

Lyric Opera of Chicago is delighted to bring this production of Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment — bel canto opera’s equivalent of vintage champagne — to the city for the first time. Marie, the lovable, irrepressible spirited heroine — a foundling, raised by soldiers — loves handsome Tonio. Things get complicated when the Marquise carts her off to refine her with a “proper” education. In one exhilarating number after another, Marie throws off coloratura flourishes like shooting stars, while her tenor sweetheart pops out nine high Cs in a single aria! Bel canto superstar Lawrence Brownlee and comedic veteran Alessandro Corbelli partner with the dazzling Lisette Oropesa in her eagerly awaited Lyric debut. The marvelously stylish Speranza Scappucci conducts Laurent Pelly’s quick-witted, uproarious production.

Language: Sung in French with projected English titles

Running Time: 2 hours and 45 minutes, including 1 intermission

Location: Lyric Opera House

For more information and to purchase tickets click HERE.

Lyric’s presentation of Donizetti’s The Daughter of the Regiment is generously made possible by Invenergy, Sonia Florian, and Marion A. Cameron-Gray.

REVIEW: Lyric Opera's The Flying Dutchman Now Playing Through October 7th, 2023

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Lyric Opera's The Flying Dutchman 

Review 

By Catherine Hellmann, Guest Critic 

Two and a half hours for an opera by Richard Wagner? One act? I’m out the door by 10:00? Sign me up! (I already have my Ring Cycle Merit badge, thank you very much.) 

Tamara Wilson as Senta and Tomasz Konieczny as The Dutchman.

All Photos: Todd Rosenberg

“The Flying Dutchman,” sung in German with English subtitles, as conducted by the charismatic Music Director Enrique Mazzola, is a delight. Based on an old myth about a ghost ship that must sail the seven seas forever, the doomed captain made a deal with the devil (hello, Faust?) during a storm. Now he must find true love to lift the burden of this curse. Every seven years, he is able to reappear and try to convince a woman to love him and break the spell. (My date commented, ”He’s in search of True Love.” I replied, “He has to find a sucker to stop the spell.” Hmmm…maybe I need to check my cynicism.) 

The overture was suspenseful and set the stage for events to come. There is drama on the high seas where there is no promise of return. The Dutchman may be lost forever, and his dismal crew (lit underneath the stage in red lights) will be adrift for eternity. 

Tomasz Konieczny as The Dutchman.

The set by Allen Moyer, who also designed the costumes, is on a disorienting tilt to portray the rocking waves of the water. The singers do a great job of lilting to the sides to simulate the turbulence of the sea. The opera chorus is always fabulous. The men portray the sailors and crew of the ghost trip while the women’s chorus represent the weavers working spinning wheels and the monotony of textile factories. 

Tomasz Konieczny as the Dutchman was powerful and mesmerizing. (Although the “Kool Ghoul” makeup was spooky but odd.) Local hometown star Tamara Wilson was incredible as Senta, the woman who yearns to save the doomed Dutchman (“sucka,” I’m thinking…Don’t do it, Senta!!). Not every opera singer is also a convincing actor, but they both were wonderful. I wasn’t wowed by the costumes, and Ms. Wilson was clearly visible but should ask the wardrobe crew about the Bozo wig.  

By the end of the show, I glanced at my watch and was amazed two hours had passed. That’s a very positive sign for a lengthy opera. The music is glorious. 

Wonderful start to the new Lyric Season.

Catherine Hellmann spends her life at school, the theater, and out walking in the city. 

Mika Kares as Daland, Tomasz Konieczny as The Dutchman,  and the Company of The Flying Dutchman. What You Need to Know About Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman

The Chicago cultural season begins with Music Director Enrique Mazzola conducting his first Wagner opera at Lyric September 23 – October 7, 2023

Wagnerian opera makes a grand return to Chicago whenThe Flying Dutchman docks at Lyric Opera of Chicago from September 23 to October 7, 2023. Considered to be composer Richard Wagner’s first masterpiece,The Flying Dutchman is legendary for its eerie storyline, complex themes of sacrifice and redemption, and soaring melodies. More than 165 musical and dramatic artists — including some of the world’s most sought-after soloists — bring this riveting odyssey to life on Chicago’s biggest stage. Opera’s most thrilling ghost story sets sail. Not seen at Lyric in more than 20 years, The Flying Dutchman is perhaps Wagner’s most haunting opera. This tempestuous work tells the story of a sailor known as the Dutchman, who is doomed to roam the seas forever. The Dutchman’s only hope to break the curse is (*drumroll please*) true love. Senta, a young Norwegian woman, falls quickly and deeply in love with the Dutchman and, well, the story only sinks from there. Through recurring musical themes (known as leitmotifs) and a rich orchestration, Wagner leaves the audience holding their breath to see what comes next for the love-struck couple.  Enrique Mazzola kicks off a season of historic "firsts." In his third season as Lyric’s Music Director, Enrique Mazzola leads the esteemed Lyric Opera Orchestra through a series of momentous firsts. This season opener, brought to life with a 72-piece orchestra, will mark Mazzola’s first time conducting Wagner at Lyric. In January, Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion will mark his first contemporary work at Lyric, and he finishes Lyric’s opera season with his first-ever production of Aida, which also marks the 100th opera of his storied career. In a final "first" of the 2023/24 Season, Mazzola will conduct Mozart’s Requiem, his first foray into Mozart at Lyric. This diverse season allows Mazzola to showcase his broad repertoire and the Orchestra to display its mastery of a variety of musical styles.  An opera that lets the Chorus shine. Wagner’s score of The Flying Dutchmanhighlights the exceptional Lyric Opera Chorus, with contrasting men’s and women’s (and even ghosts’) choruses throughout the opera. Led by Michael Black, Lyric’s Chorus Director and Head of Music, the powerful 90-member Chorus has a staggering impact on this haunting story.  A star-studded cast comes aboard. Bass-baritone Tomasz Konieczny and soprano Tamara Wilson give entrancing portrayals of the Dutchman and Senta. Hailed as "The Breakout Star of the Met Opera’s Ring" by The New York Times, Konieczny returns to Lyric following his acclaimed portrayal of the title role inWozzeck in the 2015/16 Season. Wilson, a stand-out Verdian in recent seasons at Lyric — who was also deemed "quite the Wagnerian" by The New York Times — returns following her most recent headlining role as Elvira in Ernani in the 2022/23 Season. With piercing arias, longing duets, and energizing dialogues, this captivating pair and their fiery vocal power make The Flying Dutchman a must-see. Experienced and emerging artists round out the cast. Renowned bass Mika Kares returns to Lyric as Senta’s father Daland. The cast also features tenorRobert Watson as Erik and mezzo-soprano Melody Wilson as Mary, both in their Lyric debuts. Ryan Capozzo, a third-year member of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center Ensemble, returns to the mainstage as the Steersman. Sets, costumes, and lighting combine for a theatrically spellbinding production. Director Christopher Alden’s production creates the illusion of a haunted galleon battling raging waters; it is bold and modern while retaining the authenticity of the story itself. (Wagnerian spectacle must run in the family — Alden’s twin brother and fellow opera director, David Alden, directed a new production of The Flying Dutchman at Sante Fe Opera this past summer). Allen Moyer’s creative sets and costumes combine to create a spooky atmosphere, andAnne Militello’s shadowy lighting design gives the production its eerie finishing touches, in her Lyric debut.  Wagner returns to Lyric with drama on the high seas. In an intense return to Lyric, Wagner’s first famous opera does what all of Wagner’s operas do: It draws you in with a captivating story, layered musical composition, and soaring vocal lines written for richly drawn characters. (And at just 2 hours and 20 minutes, it does it all in half the usual time for a Wagner opera.) Ryan Capozzo as Steersman, Tomasz Konieczny as The Dutchman,  and the Company of The Flying Dutchman. Important to know ·        Five chances to see The Flying Dutchman: September 23, 27, October 1 matinee, 4 matinee, and 7, 2023. ·        A running time of 2 hours and 20 minutes; performed without intermission. ·        Sung in German, with easy-to-follow English translations projected above the stage. ·        Information and tickets: visit lyricopera.org/dutchman or call 312.827.5600.

Lyric’s presentation of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman is generously made possible by an Anonymous Donor, Josef & Margot Lakonishok, and Bulley & Andrews. Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, H. Gael Neeson, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, and the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation as members of the Enrique Circle. The Enrique Circle is comprised of Lyric's most dedicated supporters who are committed to championing Maestro Enrique Mazzola's exciting artistic vision and legacy. Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, American Airlines, and acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency.

About Lyric Lyric Opera of Chicago is committed to redefining what it means to experience great opera. The company is driven to deliver consistently excellent artistry through innovative, relevant, celebratory programming that engages and energizes new and traditional audiences. Under the leadership of General Director, President & CEO Anthony Freud and Music Director Enrique Mazzola, Lyric is dedicated to reflecting, and drawing strength from, the diversity of Chicago. Lyric offers, through innovation, collaboration, and evolving learning opportunities, ever-more exciting, accessible, and thought-provoking audience and community experiences. We also stand committed to training the artists of the future, through The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center; and to becoming increasingly diverse across our audiences, staff, programming, and artists—magnifying the welcoming pull of our art form, our company, and our city. Through the timeless power of voice, the splendor of a great orchestra and chorus, theater, dance, design, and truly magnificent stagecraft, Lyric is devoted to immersing audiences in worlds both familiar and unexpected, creating shared experiences that resonate long after the curtain comes down. Join us @LyricOpera on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and Facebook. #LongLivePassion For more information, visit lyricopera.org.