Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 11 Ariodante

P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O 22 | March 2 - 17, 2019 ALICE COOTE (Ariodante) Previously at Lyric: Six roles since 2001/02, most recently Prince Charming/ Cendrillon (2018/19); Octavian/ Der Rosenkavalier (2015/16); Composer/ Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12). e world-renowned English mezzo-soprano’s repertoire encompasses not only trouser roles of Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart, Massenet, and Strauss, but also such diverse female roles as Poppea, Carmen, Charlotte, Donizetti’s Léonor, and Berlioz’s Marguerite. A major Handel inter- preter, she is celebrated for Alcina (Stuttgart, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Paris, Vienna), Giulio Cesare (Metropolitan Opera, Paris), Ariodante (London, Toronto, Vienna, European tour with e English Concert), Orlando (London), and Hercules (Chicago, London, Vienna, Paris, Toronto). During the past two seasons she has made acclaimed role debuts as Leonora/Adès’s e Exterminating Angel (Met), Vitellia/ La clemenza di Tito (Glyndebourne), and Sara/ Roberto Devereux (Frankfurt). Later this season she returns to the Bavarian State Opera in the title role/Handel’s Agrippina (role debut). A sought-after concert art- ist and recitalist worldwide, she recently returned to Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Australian Chamber Orchestra and at the BBC Proms with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder. Other great successes include appearances with the major orchestras of London, Boston, New York, and Amsterdam. e mezzo’s discography includes a recital of Handel arias, numerous song programs, and major works of Monteverdi, Brahms, Mahler, and Elgar. DVD appearances include Alcina , L’incoronazione di Poppea , Lucrezia Borgia , Cendrillon , and Hansel and Gretel . BRENDA RAE (Ginevra) Lyric debut e American soprano, now enjoying an outstand- ing international career, has starred this season in Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Philadelphia, new production), e Abduction from the Seraglio (Zurich Opera House, debut), and I puritani (Oper Frankfurt, new production). She also was featured at the International Music Festival of the Canary Islands (Zerbinetta/ Ariadne auf Naxos ). Other recent highlights range stylistically from Cleopatra/ Giulio Cesare (Frankfurt), Lucia (Vienna), and Violetta (Santa Fe) to the title role / Lulu (London) and Cunegonde/ Candide (Santa Fe). Following Ariodante, Rae will star in the title role/Handel’s Semele on tour with conductor Harry Bicket and e English Concert, then reprise Zerbinetta in her return to La Scala (where she was previously heard in concert works of Mozart), and make her debut at London’s presti- gious Wigmore Hall. A favorite in leading German houses, she has triumphed at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera singing roles of Mozart and Strauss. Her Zerbinetta has been heard at the Berlin State Opera, her Amina and Gilda at the Frankfurt Opera. Recitals have brought her to Carnegie Hall and Austria’s Schubertiade Festival. A former Grammy nominee, Rae has recorded operas of Wagner, Offenbach, Strauss, and Milhaud. She appears on DVD as Armida in the Glyndebourne production of Rinaldo . HEIDI STOBER (Dalinda) Previously at Lyric: Valencienne/ e Merry Widow (2015/16). e American soprano began the 2018/19 season as Mozart’s Pamina at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she has been a lead- ing artist since 2008. Among her many Berlin roles have been Susanna, Adina, Gretel, Marguerite, and Micaëla (a portrayal reprised earlier this sea- son). In September she was featured as Zdenka/ Arabella at San Francisco Opera, before traveling to Amsterdam for Antigone/Enesco’s Oedipe (Dutch National Opera). She returns to San Fran- cisco this summer as Angelica/ Orlando, having previously starred there in eight stylistically diverse roles, among them Susanna, Norina, Magnolia/ Show Boat, and Johanna/ Sweeney Todd . Stober has earned critical praise at the Metropolitan Opera ( Hansel and Gretel, Un ballo in maschera, e Magic Flute ), Opera eatre of Saint Louis ( Il re pastore ) and the major companies of Philadel- phia ( La finta giardiniera , eodore Morrison’s Oscar – she created the role of Ada in the latter’s Santa Fe world premiere), Garsington (title role/ S emele ), Dresden (title role/ Alcina ), and Houston (an alumna of Houston Grand Opera Studio, she returns regularly to HGO, most recently as Susanna). e soprano has been heard in a variety of concert works with the major orchestras of Los Angeles (Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 4 , world premiere), New York, Houston, Berlin, and Oslo, among others. IESTYN DAVIES (Polinesso) Previously at Lyric: Eustazio/ Rinaldo (2011/12). The renowned British countertenor’s appearanc- es in America earlier this season included Terry Rutland/Nico Muhly’s Marnie at the Metropoli- tan Opera (U.S. premiere) and Messiah with the Handel and Haydn Society. Later he will star in Handel’s rarely heard Agrippina at the Munich Opera Festival. Prominent among Davies’s many stage successes have been L’incoronazione di Poppea (Zurich, Glyndebourne); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Houston, London, Met, Aldeburgh); Death in Venice (La Scala); Jephtha (Cardiff, Bordeaux); Steffani’s rarely heard Niobe (Covent Garden); Rodelinda and omas Adès’s e Tempest (Met); Rinaldo (Glyndebourne); and Adès’s e Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival world premiere, reprised at Covent Garden and the Met). In 2015 he appeared at London’s Globe eatre as Farinelli/ Farinelli and the King , which he repeated to great acclaim on Broadway last season. Concert engagements have taken Davies to La Scala, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Zurich’s Tonhalle, London’s Barbican Centre, Paris’s éâtre des Champs-Élysées, Lincoln Center, and Royal Albert Hall. He appears regularly at London’s Wigmore Hall, where he has curated his own residency (2012/13). His recordings include works of Dowland, Porpora, Bach, Handel, Fauré, and Britten. He has received two Gramophone Awards, a Grammy Award, a Royal Philharmonic Society Award, and an Olivier Award nomination. KYLE KETELSEN (King of Scotland) Previously at Lyric: Six roles since 1999/00, most recently Leporello / Don Giovanni (2014/15); Don Basilio / e Barber of Seville (2013/14); title role/ e Marriage of Figaro (2009/10). e celebrated American bass-baritone returns to Lyric after appearances this season with the Metropolitan Opera (Escamillo/ Carmen , Golaud/ Pelléas et Mélisande ), the Zurich Opera House (Rodolfo/ La sonnambula ), and the French orches- tra Les Siècles (Méphistophélès/ La damnation de Faust ). He concludes the season as Escamillo at San Francisco Opera. Ketelsen has drawn on his exceptional versatility in recent seasons, portraying Henry VIII/ Anna Bolena (Canadian Opera Company), Nick Shadow/ e Rake’s Progress (Dutch National Opera), Leporello/ Don Giovanni (debuts at Dallas Opera, the Opéra National de Lyon, and Tokyo’s NHK Symphony Orchestra), Escamillo (Madrid’s Teatro Real), and Alidoro/ La Cenerentola (Bavarian State Opera). European successes also include performances at London’s Royal Opera (five roles to date), Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Berlin State Opera (both as Mozart’s Figaro, a longtime signature role), Paris’s éâtre des Champs-Élysées (as Golaud), and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence (as Nick Shadow), among other companies. Ketelsen made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Oratorio Society of New York in Haydn’s Creation . He has collabo- rated with Esa-Pekka Salonen for performances with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the