Endowment gifts

Lyric has a bold vision for the future that will redefine what it means to experience great opera. Through artistic excellence, initiatives that connect and expand audiences, innovative programs that ignite creativity across Chicago, and an inspiring opera house that is the setting for truly memorable experiences, Lyric can redefine opera for our time. Your investment in this unrestricted endowment will help provide for Lyric's broadest needs in achieving its vision.

Our audience development initiatives seek to educate, inspire, and increase the number of people who appreciate opera and the performing arts. Lyric strives to make performances accessible for a broad public and to experiment with ways in which to reach new audiences.

Lyric made an unprecedented commitment to developing the next generation of performers when it established what is now The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center in 1974. Widely recognized as one of the premier programs of its kind in the world, the Ryan Opera Center prepares emerging singers, pianists, directors and conductors for careers in opera by providing unique, comprehensive training.

Your gift will enable Lyric to continue to expand its civic footprint—including work with and for specific cultural communities, with schools and teachers, families, youth, and adults through its innovative, wide-ranging programs that extend beyond the opera house. Ensure that people and communities throughout Chicago will have access to opera, Lyric as a company, and its resources, regardless of background.

Lyric seeks to deliver ever more exciting, thought-provoking experiences and to connect audiences with the kind of epic, captivating experience that opera lovers seek—and to which new audiences will be drawn.Your philanthropic support will ensure a stable income source for grand opera, chamber opera, new works, and great classics that meet the expectations of Lyric's audiences.