CHICAGO (6/18/24) — Single tickets go on sale Thursday, June 20 at 10 a.m. Central Time for Lyric Opera of Chicago’s thrilling 2024/25 Season, an exciting mix of four classic operas, two contemporary works never before performed in Chicago, three unmissable special concerts and recitals featuring the biggest names in the vocal arts, and the return of a popular event providing an insider's glimpse into opera for all ages. Until now, Lyric’s much-anticipated new season was only available to subscribers; recent seasons have seen incredible demand for single tickets.
"I can’t wait for audiences to discover the many thrills we have packed into our 2024/25 Season — from classic operas like La Bohème with a cast of Lyric favorites, to brand-new works like The Listeners featuring so many Lyric debuts," says Anthony Freud, Lyric’s General Director, President & CEO. "Lyric continues to bring the best talent in the world to Chicago, and we in turn have the best audiences in the world for our performers. I hope you can be in that audience next season and be dazzled by the experience of live opera or any of our world-class special events."
Single tickets are available Thursday, June 20 at 10 a.m. — online at lyricopera.org, by calling Lyric Audience Services at 312.827.5600, or by visiting the Box Office at the Lyric Opera House Tuesday through Friday from 12 to 5 p.m. Discounts are still available for subscription packages and groups of 10 or more. Act quickly to secure the best seats for performances as many dates have limited availability and are anticipated to sell out.
The company’s 70th anniversary season opens with Verdi’s epic of vengeance Rigoletto, conducted by acclaimed Music Director Enrique Mazzola in his sixth Verdi opera at Lyric. The season continues with Beethoven’s timely political opera Fidelio, not seen at Lyric in 20 years, also conducted by Mazzola — his first outing with Beethoven’s powerful score — and directed by Matthew Ozawa.
One of musical theater’s most legendary stars headlines Patti LuPone: A Life in Notes for one night only on Friday, October 4, 2024. This brand-new show, never before seen in Chicago, is LuPone’s "personal musical memoir" and will commemorate key moments in her life through song.
Next in the season is Mozart’s beloved comic masterpiece The Marriage of Figaro, directed by Chicago Shakespeare Theater founder Barbara Gaines. Mozart’s enduring favorite is followed by one of opera’s newest modern classics: Blue, by composer Jeanine Tesori (Tony winner for Kimberly Akimbo and Fun Home) and librettist Tazewell Thompson, which was named the Best New Opera of 2019 by the Music Critics Association of North America. The opera follows a Black police officer and his wife as they grapple with the killing of their son at the hands of a white police officer.
The internationally celebrated soprano (and local legend) Sondra Radvanovsky returns to Lyric for a unique project of an Olympic scale: Sondra Radvanovsky in Concert: The Puccini Heroines, featuring the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola, for three performances only. Radvanovsky and Mazzola are working in partnership to create a new and original program — to be seen in Chicago for the first time — of showstopping arias from each of Puccini’s 12 operas, including audience favorites from Tosca, La Bohème, and Madama Butterfly.
Puccini’s unforgettable music returns for a longer stay when his most famous opera, La Bohème — a perfect opera for both first-timers and longtime opera lovers — takes the stage in a gloriously detailed new-to-Chicago production. Presented in repertory with the classic La Bohème is another new work in its Chicago premiere: The Listeners, by the celebrated team of composer Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek. The opera, set in the contemporary American Southwest, is a dark and psychologically charged thriller about a woman’s descent into manipulation by a charismatic group leader. Maestro Mazzola conducts this eerie and spellbinding new work.
In Lyric in Concert: A Wondrous Sound, the world-class Lyric Opera Orchestra and Lyric Opera Chorus join forces under the baton of Maestro Mazzola to perform some of the most thrilling overtures and favorite choral works in all of opera.
And to celebrate the end of the season and inspire a new generation to discover the wonder of opera, Lyric throws open the doors — and the curtains — to welcome people of all ages into the Lyric Opera House for a day of exploration and fun on Saturday, April 26, 2025. Explore Your Lyric features live performances of Joe Illick and Mark Campbell's youth opera Frida Kahlo and the Bravest Girl in the World, exciting presentations on stage movement, a chance to peek into the orchestra pit, and other hands-on activities for all to enjoy.
For a free preview of the 2024/25 Season, to hear artists from the Ryan Opera Center sing selections from the new season with the Lyric Opera Orchestra conducted by Maestro Mazzola, and to celebrate the inaugural appearance of Karen Slack as the new Lyric Unlimited Artist-in-Residence, the public is invited to Sunday in the Park with Lyric on Sunday, August 25, 2024, at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. (No tickets are required; picnic baskets optional!)
For more information about Lyric’s 2024/25 Season and to purchase tickets, visit lyricopera.org.
