Lyric Opera of Chicago Announces Single Ticket On Sale for the 2021/22 Season

Enrique Mazzola’s inaugural season as music director

Enhanced main-floor accessibility and all-new seats throughout the theater

We’re ready to welcome you back!

 

CHICAGO (8/2/2021) – The long wait is almost over! Live, in-person grand opera is just weeks away. Single tickets go on sale tomorrow, August 3, at 10:00 a.m., for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s exciting new season, opening on Friday, September 17, with a brand-new production of Verdi’s Macbeth. After the successful reimagining of its 2020/21 Season, everyone at Lyric looks forward to welcoming audiences back to the Lyric Opera House this fall for the company’s 67th Season, presented by Invesco QQQ. 

"Once again audiences can experience everything we have to offer in person — glorious singing and acting, splendid orchestral playing, and engaging musical storytelling in productions not previously seen on our stage," said Anthony Freud, general director, president & CEO of the world-renowned company. "Lyric will again thrill our in-person audiences with drama, suspense, love, laughter, revelation, and all the emotions that great music unleashes," Freud declared. “Longtime opera goers and newcomers alike will be captivated by the experiences we offer this season."

Additionally, Freud noted, “our beautiful Lyric Opera House is now more accessible than ever. Thanks to a generous anonymous donor, we have replaced every seat in the house, reshaped the theater with widened aisles, and created improved sightlines and better ease of access throughout. Our returning and first-time audience members will enjoy an enhanced experience within our beautiful walls.”

Enrique Mazzola, Lyric’s new music director, will be on the podium for the season’s first two operas, Macbeth and The Elixir of Love, and will return for Proving Up early in 2022. “I am excited to start rehearsals later this month for these two Italian operas that are so different from each other, musically and dramatically,” Mazzola said. “We will start the season with a dark and stormy drama and a sunny romantic commedia — like the tragedy-comedy motifs you see in the opera-house decor!” 

The 2021/22 Season opens with the exciting production premiere by Sir David McVicar of Verdi’s Macbeth and the sparkling new-to-Chicago production by Daniel Slater of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love (performed in repertory Sept. 17- Oct. 9). 

In November, Lyric will present a charming silent movie-inspired production by Barrie Kosky of Mozart’s The Magic Flute and the Lyric premiere of Daniel Catán’s haunting Florencia en el Amazonas, inspired by a novel by Gabriel García Márquez, in a production by Francesca Zambello. This will be Lyric’s first presentation of a main stage Spanish-language opera in the regular season. Both productions are new to Chicago, with performances Nov. 3 - 28.

In late January 2022, Missy Mazzoli’s recent opera Proving Up, about the elusiveness of the American dream for homesteaders in the 1870s, will have its Lyric premiere in the Owen Theatre at Goodman Theatre, with performances Jan. 22 - 30. Tickets to Proving Up will be on sale in September 2021.

A classic new-to-Chicago production of Puccini’s Tosca and the Lyric premiere of Terence Blanchard’s riveting recent opera Fire Shut Up in My Bones will close the season with performances Mar. 12 - Apr. 10. 

Lyric’s beloved former music director, Sir Andrew Davis, will return to conduct Lyric’s first-ever performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on April 1. The concert, featuring the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, and four outstanding soloists to be announced at a later date, will be dedicated to the memory of Davis’s wife, the soprano Gianna Rolandi (1952-2021), who served as director of Lyric’s Ryan Opera Center 2006-2013. 

As single tickets go on sale for the upcoming season, Lyric is constantly monitoring public health and safety guidelines.  The company is committed to communicating with transparency as policies and best practices evolve. 

Here are Lyric’s current plans:

• The operas in Lyric’s 2021/22 Season will be presented at full length, with intermissions as applicable.
• Lyric will offer virtual streams of the season’s shows for ticket-holders only, as an alternative to attending in-person, should some audience members not yet feel comfortable returning to the theater. 

At the theater, audiences can expect:

• Enhanced, hospital-grade cleaning practices that use high-performance disinfectants throughout our theater spaces and offices. 
• Ventilation systems that have been thoroughly cleaned, including fogging of hard-to-reach surfaces. 
• Upgraded air filters have been installed, and airflow has been shifted to decrease recycled air and increase fresh air exchange. 
• Water systems that have been regularly maintained. 
• Touchless fixtures in the theater.
• Hand-sanitizing stations in locations throughout the theater.
• Dining and concessions will be operated in compliance with state and local health guidelines.
• Fully vaccinated staff and artists.
• Details around mask protocols and more detailed health and safety policies will be announced closer to the season opening in September.

Additional information is available at lyricopera.org/safety.

“We are eager to welcome everyone back safely and comfortably to the Lyric Opera House for the shared community and the life-affirming power of live performance. See you in September, and beyond!” Freud said.

He added that Lyric will welcome The Joffrey Ballet this season “as our resident ballet company at the Lyric Opera House, a genuine partnership that will bring new audiences to our beautiful, iconic home.” Lyric productions will alternate with Joffrey productions over the course of the season.  

Call 312-827-5600 or visit lyricopera.org to purchase tickets for individual Lyric performances starting at 10am on Tuesday, August 3. In addition to tickets to individual shows, subscription packages are still available and offer the best savings, overall. Visit lyricopera.org/subscribe for series dates, pricing details, and full season calendar. 

For the ultimate in variety and flexibility, consider a Create Your Own (CYO) Series, in which you customize your selection of at least three shows — any title, any date, any price zone to suit your taste and schedule. CYO packages start at just $29 per show. Curated subscriptions, including set dates and titles, include packages that start at just $40 per show on the Main Floor.

English translations on a screen above the stage for opera performances make it easy for everyone to follow the stories for every opera. 

Here’s what’s in store for Lyric’s new season:

• Macbeth (Verdi), Sept. 17-Oct. 9: Macbeth’s bloody ascent to the throne of Scotland — led and supported by his wife’s own consuming ambition — leads to disaster for them both. Verdi brings Shakespeare’s unforgettable characters to blazing life in a score that bristles with energy and endless excitement. Grand-scale arias, hair-raising duets, stupendous ensembles — they’re all here, in the first genuine masterpiece of Verdi’s career.

• The Elixir of Love (Donizetti), Sept. 26-Oct. 8: No operatic hero is more endearing than Nemorino, who pines for the flirtatious Adina. His only hope to win her is the “elixir” sold by the quack, Dr. Dulcamara — little does he know that it’s just Bordeaux wine! Will Nemorino win Adina’s heart, or will she choose the dashing military man instead? You’ll be buoyed by the delectable music in this heartwarming comedy.

• The Magic Flute (Mozart), Nov. 3-27: Mozart’s miraculous blend of the human and the supernatural conjures a world where Prince Tamino and Princess Pamina triumph over every obstacle in their search for wisdom, enlightenment, and true love. The gloriously varied score enchants with the lovers’ soulful arias, the stratospheric vocal fireworks of the villainous Queen of the Night, the subterranean depths of the formidable high priest Sarastro, and the folk-like melodies of the endearingly goofy birdcatcher, Papageno.

• Florencia en el Amazonas (Catán), Nov. 13-28: Florencia Grimaldi, a renowned diva, is engaged to perform at the opera house of Manaus, Brazil. Traveling there by boat, she dreams of a reunion with her long-lost lover, but will he be there? Florencia and her fellow passengers are all illuminated by the magical realism and magnificent, lushly romantic music created by a true musical genius — Mexico’s finest opera composer, Daniel Catán, who loosely based this work on Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera.

• Proving Up (Mazzoli/Vavrek), Jan. 22-30: . This gripping drama explores the American dream of a better life for regular, hard-working people trying to fulfill their destiny — and what happens when fate is cruel. The haunting, supernatural story of Nebraska homesteaders in the 1870s, who dream of “proving up” to obtain the deed to the land they’ve settled, draws us vividly into a world where the requirement of a single glass window can shatter a family’s hopes and dreams. On sale in September 2021.

• Tosca (Puccini), Mar. 12-Apr. 10: A diva with all of Rome at her feet. A woman who takes charge of her life and fights for what she wants. A brave and loving heroine, extravagantly emotional yet utterly irresistible. Floria Tosca is all these things. She’s loved by Mario Cavaradossi, the revolutionary, and lusted after by Baron Scarpia, Rome’s vicious police chief. Puccini’s lushly grand-scale music illuminates these characters, and the entire opera bursts with a theatricality that makes Tosca a favorite of audiences everywhere.

• Fire Shut Up in My Bones (Blanchard/Lemmons), Mar. 24-Apr. 8: New York Times columnist Charles M. Blow’s widely acclaimed memoir is the source for this powerfully moving opera by composer Terence Blanchard, one of the most influential figures in American jazz, and librettist Kasi Lemmons, director of such remarkable films as Harriet and Eve’s Bayou. Fire Shut Up in My Bones takes on issues of sexual identity, masculinity, and a lust for revenge triggered by a defining moment in Charles’s life.
  
  
• Sir Andrew Davis Conducts Beethoven 9, Apr. 1: Lyric will celebrate Sir Andrew Davis’s extraordinary 21-year tenure as music director and principal conductor with Beethoven’s enthralling, life-affirming Ninth Symphony. Outstanding vocal artists will join the Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus for an unforgettable musical experience. The concert will be dedicated to the memory of Davis’s wife, the soprano Gianna Rolandi (1952-2021), and will begin with a new choral work by their son, composer Ed Frazier Davis.

NEW PRODUCTION
Verdi
MACBETH
Sung in Italian with projected English texts
September 17, 23 matinee (m), 30, October 3m, 6m, 9, 2021

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

MACBETH
Roman Burdenko*

LADY MACBETH
Sondra Radvanovsky

MACDUFF
Joshua Guerrero*

BANCO
Christian Van Horn° 

CONDUCTOR
Enrique Mazzola

DIRECTOR
Sir David McVicar

SET DESIGNER
John Macfarlane

COSTUME DESIGNER
Moritz Junge

LIGHTING DESIGNER
David Finn

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

CHOREOGRAPHER
Andrew George

*Lyric Opera debut
°Ryan Opera Center alumnus

Macbeth is a co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago and Canadian Opera Company.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, and the Robert & Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

Lyric’s new co-production of Verdi’s Macbeth is generously made possible by Abbott, Julie & Roger Baskes, Marlys A. Beider, and Patricia A. Kenney & Gregory J. O’Leary.

 

NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION
Donizetti
THE ELIXIR OF LOVE
Sung in Italian with projected English texts
September 26m, 29m, October 2, 5, 8, 2021

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

ADINA
Ailyn Pérez 

NEMORINO
Charles Castronovo

BELCORE
Joshua Hopkins

DULCAMARA
Kyle Ketelsen

CONDUCTOR
Enrique Mazzola

DIRECTOR
Daniel Slater*

DESIGNER
Robert Innes Hopkins

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Simon Mills*

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

CHOREOGRAPHER
Tim Claydon

 

*Lyric Opera debut

The Elixir of Love is a co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago and San Francisco Opera, originally created by Opera North, UK.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, and the Robert & Penelope Steiner Family Foundation

Lyric’s presentation of Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love is generously made possible by Sonia Florian.

 

NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION
Mozart
THE MAGIC FLUTE
Sung in German with projected English texts
November 3, 7m, 11m, 14m, 17m, 19, 27, 2021

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

PAMINA
Ying Fang

QUEEN OF THE NIGHT
Lila Dufy*

TAMINO
Pavel Petrov*

PAPAGENO
Huw Montague Rendall*

SARASTRO
Tareq Nazmi*

MONOSTATOS
Brenton Ryan

CONDUCTOR
Karen Kamensek*

ORIGINAL DIRECTORS
Suzanne Andrade* 
Barrie Kosky*

REVIVAL DIRECTOR
Tobias Ribitzki*

DESIGNER
Esther Bialas*

ANIMATION DESIGNER
Paul Barritt*
Conception “1927”*

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

 

*Lyric Opera debut

A production of the Komische Oper Berlin, co-produced by Los Angeles Opera and Minnesota Opera. 

Lyric’s presentation of Mozart’s The Magic Flute is generously made possible by The Negaunee Foundation, Nancy & Sanfred Koltun, Liz Stiffel, the Gramma Fisher Foundation of Marshalltown, Iowa, Mr. & Mrs. Dietrich M. Gross, and Randy L. & Melvin R.* Berlin. 
*deceased

 

LYRIC PREMIERE & NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION
Catán
FLORENCIA EN EL AMAZONAS
Sung in Spanish with projected English texts
November 13, 18, 21m, 26, 28m, 2021

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

FLORENCIA
Ana María Martínez

ROSALBA
Gabriella Reyes*

ARCADIO
Mario Rojas°

PAULA
Deborah Nansteel

ALVARO
Levi Hernandez°

RIOLOBO
Ethan Vincent*

CAPTAIN
Raymond Aceto

CONDUCTOR
Jordan de Souza*

DIRECTOR
Francesca Zambello

SET DESIGNER
Peter J. Davison

COSTUME DESIGNER
Catherine Zuber

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Mark McCullough

PROJECTION DESIGNER
S. Katy Tucker*

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

CHOREOGRAPHER
Eric Sean Fogel

 

*Lyric Opera debut
°Ryan Opera Center alumnus

Original production from Houston Grand Opera.

Lyric’s premiere of Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas is generously made possible byan Anonymous Donor and Marion A. Cameron-Gray.

 

LYRIC PREMIERE & NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION
Mazzoli/Vavrek
PROVING UP
Performed in English with projected English texts
January 22, 26, 28, 30m, 2022 
Proving Up will be performed in the Owen Theatre at Goodman Theatre. On sale Summer 2021.

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

MA ZEGNER
Talise Trevigne

PA ZEGNER
Edward Parks

MILES ZEGNER
Miles Mykkanen*

LITTLER SISTER
Boya Wei*

TALLER SISTER
Annie Rosen°

SODBUSTER
Andrew Harris*

CONDUCTOR
Enrique Mazzola

DIRECTOR
James Darrah*

SET DESIGNER
Adam Rigg*

COSTUME DESIGNER
Chrisi Karvonides-Dushenko*

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Pablo Santiago*

 

*Lyric Opera debut
°Ryan Opera Center alumna

Adapted from the short story “Proving Up” by Karen Russell.

Co-commissioned by Washington National Opera, Opera Omaha, and Miller Theatre at Columbia University. ©2018 G.Schirmer, Inc.

Maestro Enrique Mazzola is generously sponsored by Alice & John Butler, Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel, and the Robert & Penelope Steiner Family Foundation.

 

NEW-TO-CHICAGO PRODUCTION
Puccini
TOSCA
Sung in Italian with projected English texts
March 12, 15, 18, 23m, 26, April 3m, 7m, 10m, 2022

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

TOSCA
Michelle Bradley*

CAVARADOSSI
Russell Thomas

SCARPIA
Fabian Veloz*

SPOLETTA
Rodell Rosel°

SACRISTAN
Alan Higgs°

CONDUCTOR
Eun Sun Kim*

DIRECTOR
Louisa Muller

SET DESIGNER
Jean-Pierre Ponnelle

COSTUME DESIGNER
Marcel Escoffier

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Duane Schuler

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

 

*Lyric Opera debut
°Ryan Opera Center alumnus

Original production built for San Francisco Opera.

Lyric’s presentation of Puccini’s Tosca is generously made possible by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP and the Mazza Foundation.

 

NEW CO-PRODUCTION
Blanchard/Lemmons
FIRE SHUT UP IN MY BONES
Performed in English with projected English texts
An opera by Terence Blanchard
Based on the book by Charles M. Blow
Libretto by Kasi Lemmons
March 24, 27m, April 2, 6m, 8, 2022

 

Swipe to view more slides

Go to previous slide. Go to next slide.

CHARLES
Will Liverman°

BILLIE
Latonia Moore* 

DESTINY/LONELINESS/GRETA
Jacqueline Echols*

SPINNER
Chauncey Packer*

CHESTER
Christopher Kenney°

CONDUCTOR
Daniela Candillari

CO-DIRECTORS
James Robinson*
Camille A. Brown*

CHOREOGRAPHER
Camille A. Brown*

SET DESIGNER
Allen Moyer

COSTUME DESIGNER
Paul Tazewell

LIGHTING DESIGNER
Christopher Akerlind

PROJECTION DESIGNER 
Greg Emetaz

CHORUS MASTER
Michael Black

 

*Lyric Opera debut
°Ryan Opera Center alumnus

A co-production of Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera, and LA Opera.

Commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera. Originally commissioned by Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, co-commissioned by Jazz Saint Louis.

Lyric’s new co-production of Blanchard/Lemmons’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones is generously made possible by an Anonymous Donor, Gael Neeson, and the Lauter McDougal Charitable Fund. 

 

LYRIC PREMIERE
SIR ANDREW DAVIS CONDUCTS BEETHOVEN 9 
Sung in German with projected English texts 
April 1, 2022

Soloists to be announced at a later date.

Photo: (c) Darris Lee Harris Photography