Lyric Opera of Chicago announces 2022/23 Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

CHICAGO (5/11/2022) — The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, the professional artist-development program at Lyric Opera of Chicago, announces the complete roster of 16 artists who comprise its 2022/23 Ensemble. The Ensemble begins its rigorous program this month in Chicago. First-year sopranos Kathryn Henry and Lindsey Reynolds, tenors Ryan Capozzo and Alejandro Luévanos, baritones Laureano Quant and Ian Rucker, and basses Ron Dukes and William Clay Thompson join six returning members of the Ensemble: soprano Denis Vélez, mezzo-soprano Katherine DeYoung, tenors Martin Luther Clark and Lunga Eric Hallam, conductor/pianist Donald Lee III, and pianist Chris Reynolds.

In addition, the Ryan Opera Center is expanding its ranks in 2022/23 to include two new positions: Director and Stage Manager. Filling these roles for the first time in the program’s history will be Ryan Opera Center Director Luther H. Lewis III and Stage Manager Tess Naval. Each will be offered a comprehensive array of training activities and performance experiences that will be tailored to the individual artists and provide them with the skills, expertise, and professional network needed to launch successful careers.

For nearly five decades, the Ryan Opera Center has nurtured the talents of a diverse range of the most promising singers and pianists. Building on that legacy, the program launched an expansion of its Ensemble to include the finest emerging conductor/pianists (starting in 2021/22), directors, and stage managers (both starting in 2022/23). This important pipeline initiative further demonstrates the Ryan Opera Center’s longstanding support of Lyric’s principles of Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA), by which the company aims to permanently reshape the operatic art form and industry to better reflect the vibrant diversity of our city and our country. The 2022/23 Ensemble is the most diverse in the history of the Ryan Opera Center, with 10 out of the 16 Ensemble members identifying as BIPOC.

2022/23 Ensemble of the Ryan Opera Center

SOPRANOS

Kathryn Henry (Sheboygan, Wisconsin)
Lindsey Reynolds (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Denis Vélez (Puebla, Pue, México)

MEZZO-SOPRANO

Katherine DeYoung (Traverse City, Michigan)

TENORS

Ryan Capozzo (Huntington, New York)
Martin Luther Clark (Marshall, Texas)
Lunga Eric Hallam (Khayelitsha, South Africa)
Alejandro Luévanos (Durango, México)

BARITONES

Laureano Quant (Barranquilla, Colombia)
Ian Rucker (Oshkosh, Wisconsin)

BASSES

Ron Dukes (Indianapolis, Indiana)
William Clay Thompson (Lexington, Kentucky)

CONDUCTOR/PIANIST

Donald Lee III (Hampton, Virginia)

PIANIST

Chris Reynolds (Ithaca, New York)

DIRECTOR

Luther H. Lewis III (Evansville, Indiana)

STAGE MANAGER

Tess Naval (Chicago, Illinois)