Il Trovatore: A Lyric Photo History

Gypsies! Curses! Brothers switched at birth! A love triangle! Tragic deaths! Verdi's Il trovatore truly has everything. The opera was a hugely popular success when it premiered, and it today remains one of the most popular operas performed around the world. Take a look at some past productions of this great opera throughout Lyric's history!

Il trovatore had its company premiere in 1955, the second season of Lyric Theatre of Chicago. This production was conducted by company co-founder Nicola Rescigno and featured an all-star cast that included tenor Jussi Björling. Maria Callas—who had just made her American debut in Chicago in 1954—made her second of three appearances in the 1955 season as Leonora. In the photo below, she is greeting Metropolitan Opera general manager Rudolf Bing after one of her Il trovatore performances.

Though there are no pictures of Lyric's 1956 production of Il trovatore, it was notable in that it was the American debut of Bruno Bartoletti, Lyric's future artistic director and principal conductor. Replacing his mentor, Tullio Serafin, Bartoletti would win rave reviews and the admiration of Carol Fox, who would later appoint him co-artistic director with Pino Donati. 

The 1958 production was conducted by Lee Schaenen and featured Ettore Bastianini and Jussi Björling returning as di Luna and Manrico, with Elinor Ross as Leonora and the great Giulietta Simionato as Azucena.

This new-to-Lyric production came to Chicago from the Metropolitan Opera, where it had been performed a few years earlier. Lyric's stage director was Christopher West and the set and costumes were created by the design group Motley, whose sketches are below.

Grace Bumbry portrayed Azucena, with Franco Corelli as Manrico (one of his signature roles), along with Ilva Ligabue (Leonora) and Mario Zanasi (di Luna) completing the leading quartet. Bruno Bartoletti returned to conduct in his first season as co-artistic director.

This production is also notable for featuring in Count di Luna's army some supernumeraries from Chicago's Kelvyn Park High School, including a young Mike Gross. He would, of course, later go on to achieve huge success as Steven Keaton in Family Ties.

After more than a 20-year absence from Lyric's stage, Il trovatore would return in a new production from director Sonja Frisell (designed by Nicola Benois) with Bruno Bartoletti on the podium once again.

This was a revival of Frisell's production, last seen in 1987-88 (this time with conductor Richard Buckley), but these performances of Il Trovatore were notable for featuring the new Verdi critical edition that had just been released by the University of Chicago Press. Dolora Zajick portrayed Azucena—one of her most acclaimed roles—with Chris Merritt (Manrico), Paolo Gavanelli (di Luna), and Lyubov Kazarnovskaya (Leonora).

A decade after its last Lyric performance, Sir David McVicar updated the action to Spain in the early 1800s during the Peninsular Wars. The sets, designed by Charles Edwards, were inspired by the paintings of Goya and are grounded by an impenetrable castle wall. Due to the change in period, the gypsies actually have something to do during the Anvil Chorus—they are making weapons for the revolution!

Dolora Zajick reprised her 1993-94 role as Azucena, with Walter Fraccaro as Manrico, Sondra Radvanovsky as Leonora, and Mark Delavan as Count di Luna. This production is also notable because it would be Bruno Bartoletti's second-to-last appearance on Lyric's podium. He would return to open the 2007-08 season with La traviata, his final Lyric appearance.

Lyric brought back Sir David McVicar’s Spanish-inspired production in the fall of 2014, with Leah Houseman as the revival director and Asher Fisch on the podium. It featured three prominent Ryan Opera Center alumni; Amber Wagner as Leonora, Quinn Kelsey as di Luna, and J’Nai Bridges as Inez (who was in the ROC Ensemble at the time). In a production of Lyric favorites, Andrea Silvestrelli (Ferrando) and Stephanie Blythe (Azucena) also returned to Chicago. 

Sir David McVicar’s production made one final appearance in the 2018/19 Season, with Roy Rallo as the revival director. Lyric’s most recent production featured debut performances for much of the cast; Robert Tagliavini as Ferrando, Tamara Wilson as Leonora, and Artur Ruciński as di Luna. The production also featured Lyric favorites in Russell Thomas as Manrico and Jamie Barton as Azucena. Marco Armiliato returned to the podium to conduct.

Photo Credits:

1955 - Lyric Opera of Chicago Archives
1958 - Chicago Daily News, Nancy Sorensen
1964 - David H. Fishman, Michael Gross
1987-88 - Tony Romano
1993-94 - Dan Rest
2006-07 - Robert Kusel, Dan Rest
2014-15 - Michael Brosilow
2018-19 - Lyric Opera of Chicago, Todd Rosenberg