Luther H. Lewis III

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

This Season at Lyric: The Flying Dutchman, Jenůfa, Champion, Aida

The multidisciplinary artist is the inaugural Ryan Opera Center Stage Director, a new Ensemble position begun in 2022/23. Lewis worked on Lyric’s 2022/23 Season productions of Fiddler on the Roof, Le Comte Ory, The Factotum, and Proximity. The Indiana native, who studied at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, the University of Kentucky, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, has appeared in principal, supporting, and chorus roles in the U.S. and abroad with numerous companies, among them Lyric (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (2012/13), Porgy and Bess (2014/15)), and other productions at San Francisco Opera and Opéra de Montréal. In 2018 Lewis presented Illustrations: A Gallery Concert in collaboration with Chicago Opera Theater at the Goodman Theatre. He directed and designed scenic elements for children’s operas and fully staged musicals with Chicago Opera Theater’s Opera for All program and a musical theater development program with After School Matters. Lewis recently served as the Inaugural Crane Directing Fellow with Opera Columbus and as a directing fellow with Opera Saratoga.

Luther H. Lewis III is sponsored by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.