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 March 2 - 17, 2019 | 25 MICHAEL BLACK (Chorus Master) Chorus master since 2013/14; interim chorus master, 2011/12. Chorus master from 2001 to 2013 at Opera Australia in Sydney, Black prepared the OA chorus for more than 90 operas and many concert works. He has served in this capacity for such distinguished orga- nizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (including Rachmaninoff’s e Bells , led by Vladimir Ashkenazy), the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir. Black has also worked with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra in Australia with Sir Andrew Davis. His recent activities include preparing the Damnation of Faust chorus, continuing his association with the Grant Park Music Festival, where he has worked for two seasons. As one of Australia’s most promi- nent vocal accompanists, Black has regularly per- formed for broadcasts and recordings (he has been heard numerous times in Australian Broadcast Corporation programs). He has served as chorus master on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, and for many HD productions in movie theaters as well as on television. He has also been a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, of which he is an alumnus. Black holds a master’s degree in musicology from the University of New South Wales. Michael Black is the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Master Endowed Chair. LUCY BURGE (Choreographer) Lyric debut The British choreographer’s close association with London’s Royal Opera includes performing in Chérubin (for which she was subsequently revival choreographer) and choreographing Gianni Schicchi , L’heure espagnole , Gloriana , and Un ballo in maschera . She was movement director for this season’s Hansel and Gretel . From 1970 to 1985, Burge was a principal dancer with the London- based contemporary dance company Rambert and also performed as a guest artist with Rudolf Nureyev. She has danced for all the major British opera companies and was a founding member of the Mature Dancers’ Project. Her opera choreography includes Powder Her Face (Irish National Opera), Ariodante (Aix-en-Provence Festival, Dutch National Opera, Canadian Opera Company), Der Ring des Nibelungen (Nederlandse Reisopera), Ariadne auf Naxos (Scottish Opera, Opera Holland Park, Glyndebourne), L’enfant et les sortilèges (Bolshoi), Fiddler on the Roof , Rusalka , and The Queen of Spades (Grange Park Opera), Parsifal (Opéra National de Paris), La fanciulla del West and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (English National Opera, the first also at The Santa Fe Opera), Billy Budd (Gothenburg, Frankfurt), Les contes d’Hoffmann and Lohengrin (Munich), Carmen (Opera North), La Favorite (Graz), Aida (Magdeburg), among many other productions. Theater choreography includes Oliver Twist (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), and Oresteia (Shakespeare’s Globe). FINN CALDWELL (Puppetry Director and Designer) Lyric debut The director/actor/ puppeteer trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. As Gyre & Gimble, his work includes co-director/puppet designer of The Four Seasons: A Reimagining (Shakespeare’s Globe), The Hartlepool Monkey (U. K. tour), The Elephantom (National Theatre, West End), and – as co-designer/director of puppetry – The Grinning Man (Bristol Old Vic, West End), The Lorax (Old Vic London, Toronto, Minneapolis Children’s Theatre, San Diego Old Globe), and Running Wild (Chichester Festival Theatre, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, U. K. tour). Other work includes director of puppetry/movement for Ariodante (Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Toronto), Angels in America (National Theatre, Broadway), The Light Princess (National Theatre), The Tempest (Birmingham Royal Ballet); War Horse (West End and internationally), Groundhog Day (Old Vic, Broadway), Dream Space (Shakespeare’s Globe), Tom Thumb (Edinburgh Festival and tour – Fringe First Award winner) and Shrek the Musical (West End). Work as director includes David Walliams’s First Hippo on the Moon (Les Petits Theatre Co.), Lardo (Old Red Lion) and Ex Machina (NIDA). Caldwell has performed at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Complicité, La Scala, Dutch National Opera, English National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Almeida Theatre, Old Vic, and Albery Theatre, among other companies. Films include Alice and The Suicide Brothers . NICK BARNES (Puppetry Designer) Lyric debut e British puppet designer and puppet maker studied at Hull University, the Slade School of Fine Art, and the International Institute of the Marionette. Barnes now runs a puppet-making studio in Hove, England. His work with Gyre & Gimble includes associate puppetry designer on Running Wild (Chichester Festival eatre, Regent’s Park Open Air eatre, U. K. tour), puppet codesigner/maker on e Lorax (Old Vic), and puppet fabrication for e Four Seasons: A Reimagining (Shakespeare’s Globe). In 1996 Barnes founded Blind Summit eatre and for many years was the company’s co- artistic director, also performing, designing, and directing. e company also created puppetry for Madame Butterfly (English National Opera, Metropolitan Opera), Shunkin, A Dog’s Heart , and e Master and Margarita (Complicité), Faeries (Royal Opera House), Kommilitonen! (Royal Academy of Music), El Gato Con Botas (Tectonic eatre), His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep), and directed the puppetry for the 2012 London Olympic Games opening ceremony. Other work in puppetry includes the BBC Proms’s annual Ten Pieces program, Mr. Popper’s Penguins (Kenny Wax Ltd), and Beauty and the Beast (Chichester Festival eatre). In addition to Ariodante (Aix-en-Provence, Amsterdam, Toronto), Barnes was puppet designer for Doctor Dolittle (U. K. tour) and puppetry codesigner for Angels in America (National eatre, Broadway). SARAH HATTEN (Wigmaster and Makeup Designer) Wigmaster and makeup designer since 2011/12. Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer has worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera and Michigan Opera eatre, as well as Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at the Glimmerglass Festival and the major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players eatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages eatre and the Geffen Playhouse. Hatten earned a B.A. in music at Simpson College. Sarah Hatten is the Marlys Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair .