CHICAGO (2/11/25) — Do you hear it? The haunting hum of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s The Listeners will transfix audiences at Lyric Opera of Chicago from March 30 to April 11, 2025. Conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola and presented in the world-premiere production of Lileana Blain-Cruz revived by Mikhaela Mahony, The Listeners is a theatrical experience that blends traditional opera with innovative videography and unconventional projection elements. This genre-defying opera’s unsettling narrative forewarns how isolation drives the search for human connection under the guise of an improbable sound.
The Listeners, a brand new work co-commissioned and co-produced by Lyric, Opera Philadelphia, and the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, had its world premiere in Oslo in 2022 to thunderous critical praise. Now, in its longest run of stateside performances yet, The Listeners takes over Chicago’s largest stage. Let the sound consume you — if you dare.
The seduction of sound. Claire, a school teacher, whose idyllic suburban life is shattered by the arrival of a persistent hum — an unplaceable droning sound that only certain people can hear. A group of other "listeners" quickly forms around stopping the plague of sound: the community begins to take on a cultish nature when the prophet-like Howard attempts to make this group his disciples of the noise for all the wrong reasons. The Listeners is a modern American exploration of relying on community when faced with unrelenting fear. At its core, this opera asks: how much are you willing to sacrifice everything you’ve known, just to feel like you belong?
An impressive cult following. Longtime composer and librettist team Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek have garnered widespread praise for their work on The Listeners, which made a brief American premiere at Opera Philadelphia earlier this season. The production has been hailed as "the unmissable opera of the season" by The New York Times and was listed on their "6 Performances Our Classical Critics Can't Stop Thinking About." The Listeners was derived from a treatment by Jordan Tannahill, who eventually published a novel of the same title, a work that was later adapted into a critically lauded television series, released on the BBC in 2024. But the hum’s menace is most unsettling in its original operatic form.
This isn’t the first time the talents of Mazzoli and Vavrek have created magic together. Previously, they received resounding acclaim for their 2016 collaboration Breaking the Waves, which won the inaugural "Best New Opera" award from the Music Critics Association of North America and was shortlisted for "Best World Premiere" at the International Opera Awards. The powerhouse duo will reunite once again for their upcoming adaptation of the beloved George Saunders novel Lincoln in the Bardo, commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera.
Fall under their masterful command. Lyric’s Music Director Enrique Mazzola leads the Lyric Opera Orchestra in interpreting Mazzoli’s thrilling and melodic score. Mazzola’s extensive experience conducting contemporary works was seen by Lyric audiences in the 2023/24 Season with Terence Blanchard and Michael Cristofer’s Champion, and he previously demonstrated his agility with Mazzoli’s composition These Worlds in Us with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in 2021, providing a solid foundation for his work on The Listeners. Earlier this season at Lyric, he conducted Verdi's Rigoletto and Beethoven's Fidelio and he will also conduct performances of Sondra Radvanovsky in Concert: The Puccini Heroines and Lyric in Concert: A Wondrous Sound. The work of Lileana Blain-Cruz, who directed the opera’s world premiere in Oslo, will be showcased on the Lyric stage for the first time. Currently the resident director at Lincoln Center Theater in New York, she was a Tony nominee for her direction of The Skin of Our Teeth. This spring, she will direct the new play Bust at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Her production of The Listeners is revived at Lyric by Mikhaela Mahony.
Devout followers that lead the way. The radiant soprano Nicole Heaston makes her Lyric debut as Claire, a role that was specifically written for her singular dramatic and vocal talents, which she portrayed in this production’s Oslo and Philadelphia performances. Alongside her recent performances in The Listeners, she most recently appeared in the title role of Samuel Barber’s Vanessa presented by the National Symphony Orchestra. Veteran bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen returns to Lyric for the first time since his 2021/22 Season appearance as Doctor Dulcamara in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, as the group leader Howard. He made his Lyric debut in the 2004/05 Season, when he appeared as Masetto in Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Rising-star soprano Jasmine Habersham makes her Lyric debut in the role of Claire’s daughter, Ashley. Her most recent engagement was as Juliet in Minnesota Opera’s production of Gounod’s Romeo and Juliet.
A hypnotic supporting cast. Howard’s cult confidant, Angela, is sung by mezzo-soprano Daniela Mack in her return to Lyric following her debut as the Kitchen Boy in Dvořák’s Rusalka in the 2013/14 Season. She has recently dazzled audiences as Frida Kahlo in Gabriela Lena Frank and Nilo Cruz’s El último sueño de Frida y Diego, co-produced by San Diego Opera and San Francisco Opera. Tenor Jonas Hacker appears as Kyle, a high-school student who becomes tormented by the sound; Hacker starred as Timothy Laughlin in Gregory Spears and Greg Pierce's Fellow Travelers in Lyric’s 2017/18 Season. Paul, Claire’s husband who is overshadowed by her fixation on the hum, is sung by baritone Zachary Nelson. He previously appeared as Marcello in Lyric’s 2018/19 Season production of Puccini’s La Bohème. Nelson recently made an anticipated role debut as Alberich in Atlanta Opera’s new production of Wagner's Das Rheingold, a role he returns to later this season in the composer's Siegfried. Baritone John Moore is Dillon in his Lyric debut; he recently appeared in performances across the United States as Steve Jobs in Mason Bates and Mark Campbell’s The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs.
An ensemble of twisted believers. Baritone Joseph Lim, an alumnus of Lyric’s renowned artist training program, The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, returns to Lyric as Thom, reprising the role he played in the Opera Philadelphia production. The cast of The Listeners also features several current members of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble: sopranos Adia Evans and Gemma Nha, mezzo-soprano Sophia Maekawa, and baritone Finn Sagal.
Unapologetic creativity at its boldest. The Listeners is an unparalleled visual feat that combines modern technology with its storytelling. Through visual commentary with modern social media and "live" newscasting sequences alongside immersive sets and projections, this production envelops viewers in its cinematic spectacle. Set designer Adam Rigg, who recently designed the sets of Illinoise at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, creates the opera’s key visual environments. Working alongside him are costume designer Kaye Voyce, lighting designer Yi Zhao, and video designer Hannah Wasileski, all in their Lyric debuts. Chorus Director and Head of Music Michael Black leads the Lyric Opera Chorus, and the original choreography of Raja Feather Kelly is recreated at Lyric by revival choreographer Zoe Scofield, both in their Lyric debuts.
Ready for the hum? Featuring a score sung entirely in English (and punctuated with profanity throughout), this work delivers a darkly comedic and thought-provoking experience for contemporary audiences. The Listeners is an immersive opera that will leave Lyric patrons fearing the inescapable spell of the hum — will it consume you, too?
Important to know:
- Five chances to experience The Listeners: March 30 matinee; April 2, 5, 8, and 11.
- Content Advisory: The Listeners includes explicit language and sexual content, along with brief mentions of self-harm and suicide, that may be triggering or uncomfortable to some audience members. This production also includes the occasional use of strobing/flashing lights and theatrical gunfire. Recommended for mature audiences.
- Performed in English with projected English titles above the stage.
- A total running time of 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.
- Ticketholders are invited to a free pre-opera talk by noted scholar Dr. Justin Vickers on the opera’s composition history and social context; the talks begin one hour before each performance on the main floor of the theater.
- Audio description and a guided touch tour of the set are available at the Sunday, March 30 matinee performance. American Sign Language interpretation and SoundShirts are available at the Wednesday, April 2 evening performance. Braille and large-print programs, high-powered opera glasses, assistive listening devices, and booster seats are available from the main floor coat check at all performances. For more information on these and other accessibility assets, visit lyricopera.org/accessibility.
- Co-commissioned and co-produced by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Norwegian National Opera, and Opera Philadelphia.
- For more information and tickets, visit lyricopera.org/listeners or call 312.827.5600.
