March 30. 2025 - April 11. 2025
March 30. 2025 - April 11. 2025
Lyric Opera of Chicago presents The Listeners, expected to be one of the most significant operatic events of the 2024/25 Season. Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek, the renowned composer/librettist team, tell the story of Claire, who is driven nearly mad by an unending, low-frequency hum that she hears. In desperation, she joins a community organization, “The Listeners,” formed to discover the origin of the noise and destroy it. The group becomes frighteningly cult-like, ultimately leading to catastrophic consequences. Lyric’s vocally and dramatically brilliant cast will be conducted by Music Director Enrique Mazzola and directed by one of the most gifted theater artists of her generation, Lileana Blain-Cruz.
Content Advisory: The Listeners includes explicit language and sexual content, along with brief mentions of self-harm and suicide, that may be triggering to some audience members. This production also includes the occasional use of strobing/flashing lights and theatrical gunfire. Recommended for mature audiences.
Lyric’s presentation of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek's The Listeners is generously made possible by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation, the Zell Family Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
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.
Major support for The New Work Fund provided by the Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation and Virginia Tobiason.
Join us in the Ardis Krainik Theatre one hour before your opera performance begins for a free, 30-minute preview talk discussing that day’s production.
Seating is unreserved, but a ticket for that day’s performance is required. Talks begin one hour before each performance and doors open approximately 15 minutes before the start of the talks.
Pre-opera talks are supported by Raynette and Ned Boshell.
Claire
Howard
Ashley
Angela
Kyle
Paul
Dillon
Thom
Sina
Danica
Emily
Hortense
Vince
Bram
Mrs. Moreno
Theresa Alvarez
Jess
Lee Ann
Policeman
Conductor
Original Director
Set Designer
Chorus Director
RACHEL HARRIS*
COYOTE
MIKHAELA MOHONY*
REVIVAL DIRECTOR
KAYE VOYCE*
COSTUME DESIGNER
YI ZHAO*
LIGHTING DESIGNER
HANNAH WASILESKI*
VIDEO DESIGNER
RAJA FEATHER KELLY*
ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHER
ZOE SCOFIELD*
REVIVAL CHOREOGRAPHER
* Lyric debut
** Ryan Opera Center alumnus
*** Ryan Opera Center Ensemble
Co-commissioned and co-produced by Lyric Opera of Chicago, Norwegian National Opera, and Opera Philadelphia.
Header images: Erik Berg/Norwegian National Opera & Ballet
