The Flying Dutchman opens Saturday, September 23

View The Flying Dutchman images here

CHICAGO (9/22/2023) — Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 69th Season sets sail with Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, September 23 to October 7, 2023. More than 160 musical and dramatic artists bring this riveting odyssey to life on Chicago’s biggest stage.

In his third season as Lyric’s Music Director, Enrique Mazzola leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra through a series of momentous "firsts." This season opener, which features a 72-piece orchestra, will mark Mazzola’s first time conducting Wagner at Lyric. [Other milestones in the season include his first contemporary work at Lyric (Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion), his first-ever production of Aida, and his first Mozart at Lyric, the Requiem.]

The Flying Dutchman stars returning favorites Tomasz Konieczny as the Dutchman, Tamara Wilson as Senta, and Mika Kares as Daland, as well as Robert Watson as Erik and Melody Wilson as Mary, both in their Lyric debuts. The 85-member Lyric Opera Chorus adds a staggering impact to this haunting story.

The theatrically spellbinding production of director Christopher Alden creates the illusion of a haunted ship battling raging waters and captures all the drama of the high seas suffused into Wagner’s haunting score.

The performance on Sunday, October 1 marks the launch of a new Lyric accessibility initiative — the SoundShirt — a pilot program that allows all audience members, but particularly those who are deaf or hard of hearing, to experience live opera enhanced by real-time vibrations. Lyric is the first opera company in the world to offer this innovation at its live performances.

The Flying Dutchman docks at Lyric for five performances only, through October 7. Audiences are invited to experience this operatic classic on a musical and theatrical scale only Lyric Opera of Chicago can offer.

View The Flying Dutchman images here

A high-resolution video trailer is now available on Lyric's YouTube channel.

Read the The Flying Dutchman digital program book and read the director's note.

Performance dates for The Flying Dutchman are September 23, 27, October 1 (matinee), 4 (matinee), and 7, 2023. All performances take place at the Lyric Opera House, 20 North Wacker Drive, Chicago.

The Flying Dutchman is performed in German, with easy-to-follow English translations projected above the stage.

The running time is 2 hours and 20 minutes and the opera is performed without an intermission.

For tickets and information, call 312.827.5600 or go to lyricopera.org/dutchman.

Lyric’s production of 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.