Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park

Free outdoor concert begins at 7:00pm on Friday, September 6

CHICAGO (8/14/2019) – Lyric Opera of Chicago launches its 65th season with the 19th annual Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park concert at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion on Friday, September 6, at 7:00 p.m. The free outdoor performance, presented in cooperation with The City of Chicago and Millennium Park, annually attracts capacity crowds to the pavilion, great lawn, and surrounding areas of the park.

Lyric's renowned music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will conduct the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus along with an array of outstanding international opera artists, including the stars of Lyric’s season opening production of Rossini’s The Barber of Seville: Marianne Crebassa, Lawrence Brownlee, Adam Plachetka, and Krzysztof Bączyk (making his Lyric Opera debut). Current Ryan Opera Center Ensemble members Mathilda Edge, Kayleigh Decker, Eric Ferring, and Christopher Kenney will also perform.

The starry evening features excerpts from Lyric’s upcoming season, including highlights from The Barber of Seville, as well as selections from Verdi, Puccini, Mozart, and Tchaikovsky. The concert will also include music from Verdi’s Falstaff, Donizetti’s La favorite, Bizet’s Carmen, and Rachmaninoff’s Aleko.

The Lyric Opera Chorus will be prepared by chorus master Michael Black.

Lyric will post live updates via social media throughout the evening. Join the conversation by tagging your posts with #LyricStars on Facebook at facebook.com/lyricopera and on Twitter and Instagram at @LyricOpera. There will be chances to win tickets to the 2019/20 Season during the evening, and the first 5,000 guests to arrive will receive a free Lyric giveaway item.


​Invite your friends to attend this free event and let others know you are attending with the Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park Facebook event here.

Lyric Opera of Chicago opens its 65th season on Saturday, September 28. The season will include eight operas: Rossini’s The Barber of Seville (Sept. 28 – Oct. 27), Verdi’s Luisa Miller (Oct. 12 – 31), Heggie and McNally's Dead Man Walking (Nov. 2 – 22), Mozart's Don Giovanni (Nov. 14 – Dec. 8), Puccini's Madama Butterfly (Feb. 6 – Mar. 8), Tchaikovsky’s The Queen of Spades (Feb. 15 – Mar. 1), Wagner's Gӧtterdӓmmerung (Apr. 4 & 11), and a Midwest premiere of Tesori and Thompson’s Blue (performed at The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, June 19 – 28).

The climax of the season will be Lyric’s new production of Wagner’s Ring cycle, attracting audiences from around the world to experience the four operas over the course of a single week: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, and Götterdämmerung (Cycle 1: Apr. 13 – 18, Cycle 2: Apr. 20 – 25, Cycle 3: Apr. 27 – May 3).

Lyric’s 2019/20 Season also includes the company premiere of Harry Warren and Al Dubin’s Tony-winning song-and-dance spectacular 42nd Street (May 29 – June 21), and two special events: Lyric favorite Sondra Radvanovsky singing the finales of Donizetti’s three “Tudor Queen” operas in The Three Queens with members of the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus (Dec. 1 – 7) and the long-awaited Chicago return of Sir Bryn Terfel in Recital (Feb. 2).

All of Lyric’s regular-season performances take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 N. Wacker Drive in Chicago, with projected English texts for every opera. Subscriptions are still available, as are single tickets for individual performances. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. For information on specific performance dates and ticket availability, please call (312) 827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org.

Stars of Lyric Opera at Millennium Park is supported by Lead Sponsor closerlook, inc. and cosponsors Walter E. Heller Foundation, An Anonymous Donor, Rhoda and Henry Frank Family Foundation, Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP, CNA, Crain-Maling Foundation, the Komarek-Hyde-McQueen Foundation/Patricia Hyde, Sipi Metals Corp., the Music Performance Trust Fund, and the Film Funds Trust Funds. Presented in cooperation with The City of Chicago and Millennium Park.

About the Ryan Opera Center

About the Ryan Opera Center

The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center is Lyric's preeminent artist-development program that nurtures the talents of some of the most promising operatic artists of each generation. The 2024/25 Season marks the Ryan Opera Center's 50th Anniversary. The program's Ensemble members earn their coveted spot by successfully auditioning among more than 500 artists worldwide. Its alumni are among the dominant names in opera today. Donor generosity ensures continued unparalleled training, performance experience, and professional readiness of Ensemble members. This highly competitive program, established in 1974, is honored to enjoy the support of acclaimed soprano Renée Fleming as Advisor at Large, along with full time staff Director Dan Novak, Music Director Craig Terry, and Director of Vocal Studies Julia Faulkner.

About Lyric

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, Music Director Sir Andrew Davis, Music Director Designate Enrique Mazzola, and Special Project Advisor Renée Fleming, 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, and Facebook. 

Photo: Todd Rosenberg