Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 14 West Side Story

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 May 3 - June 2, 2019 | 27 as the Aspen Music Festival, the Chautauqua Institute, and the University of Texas-San Antonio New Music Festival. FRANCESCA ZAMBELLO ( Director ) has triumphed at Lyric with her productions of Tristan und Isolde (1999/00), Salome (2006/07), Porgy and Bess (2008/09, 2014/15), and Show Boat (2011/12). She returns to Lyric next season for Luisa Miller . General director of e Glimmerglass Festival since 2010 and artistic director since 2012 at Washington National Opera (where she recently directed a much-acclaimed Ring cycle, also seen twice at the San Francisco Opera), she has also served as artistic advisor to the San Francisco Opera (2005 to 2011) and artistic director of Skylight Music eatre (1987 to 1992). Following West Side Story at Lyric, Zambello will conclude her 2018/19 season with Carmen (San Francisco), Show Boat and La traviata (both at Glimmerglass). Zambello has worked at more than 50 major opera houses and theaters in America and internationally, from Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera to La Scala, the Opéra National de Paris, the Bolshoi, the Bavarian State Opera, Covent Garden, and Opera Australia. She is a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and has received two French Grand Prix des Critiques, three Olivier Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, the Golden Mask from Russia, the Russian Medal for Service to Culture and the San Francisco Opera Medal for San Francisco Opera's highest award for artistic excellence. ( See “A Message from the Director,” p. 33. ) PETER J. DAVISON ( Set Designer ) earned critical praise at Lyric for Porgy and Bess (2014/15, 2008/09) and Show Boat (2011/12). e British designer’s productions with pre- stigious companies throughout Europe and the U.K. include e Marriage of Figaro (Vienna); Die Gezeichneten , Falstaff , and Die schweigsame Frau (Zurich); Capriccio (Berlin, Turin); Der Rosenkavalier , Carmen , and Mary Stuart (English National Opera); Anna Bolena (Bavarian State Opera); Mitridate , Re di Ponto and Carmen (Salzburg); e Queen of Spades (Covent Garden); Guillaume Tell (Opéra National de Paris); and Cyrano de Bergerac (La Scala), among many other productions and venues. In addition to e Rake’s Progress , e Marriage of Figaro , and Cyrano de Bergerac at the Metropolitan Opera, his work has also been seen in America at Washington National Opera (eight productions), San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, e Dallas Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival. His theater credits include productions for Broadway ( Medea , Hamlet , Deuce , Copenhagen , Democracy , Is He Dead , Blithe Spirit ), the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National eatre, London’s West End, and the Chichester Festival eatre. Among his many important musical-theater productions are Jesus Christ Superstar (U.K./U.S.A. tour, Broadway) and Show Boat (Royal Albert Hall). Davison is a former Tony, Drama Desk, and Olivier Award nominee. JESSICA JAHN ( Costume Designer ), whose work was previ- ously seen at Lyric’s productions of Anna Bolena (2014/15) and Norma (2016/17), has collaborat- ed with directors Francesca Zambello, Diane Paulus, Tina Landau, Tommy Kail, Charles Randolph Wright, Kevin Newbury, and Michael Cavanaugh, as well as artist Michael Counts; writers Nora Ephron, Eisa Davis, Charles Busch, Charles Fuller, Gene Scheer, and Mark Campbell; and composers Ricky Ian Gordon, Jake Heggie, and Kevin Puts. Some of her past projects include Gloria: A Life (Daryl Roth eatre), Love, Loss and What I Wore (Westside eatre), Die Mommie Die! (New World Stages – Lucille Lortel Award winner), Once On is Island (Paper Mill Playhouse), One Night... (world premiere – Cherry Lane eatre), Life Is A Dream (world premiere – e Santa Fe Opera), Monodramas and Mosè in Egitto (New York City Opera), e Crucible (Glimmerglass Festival), e Manchurian Candidate (world premiere – Minnesota Opera), Maria Stuarda (Seattle Opera), Dead Man Walking (Washington National Opera), Norma (Canadian Opera Company, Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu), West Side Story (Houston Grand Opera, Glimmerglass), and Moby Dick (Utah Opera). In addition, Jahn also adjuncts at Brandeis University’s theater arts depart- ment. Jessica Jahn is supported by the Richard P. and Susan Kiphart Costume Designer Endowed Chair. MARK McCULLOUGH ( Lighting Designer ) has created lighting for Lyric’s Porgy and Bess (2008/09, 2014/15) and Show Boat (2011/12). Other notable achievements include productions at the Metropolitan Opera ( e Marriage of Figaro ), Vienna Staatsoper ( Macbeth ); Bolshoi eatre ( La traviata ); Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts ( Les contesd’Hoffmann ); La Scala ( Cyrano de Bergerac ); Madrid’s Teatro Real ( Luisa Miller ); the Royal Opera House Covent Garden ( e Queen of Spades ); and the major compa- nies of Washington ( Ring cycle, Porgy and Bess ), Strasbourg ( e Beggar’s Opera ), and Boston, Miami, Seattle, Dallas, San Diego, and St. Louis, as well as Bard College’s Fisher Center and the Glimmerglass Festival. Among McCullough’s theater credits are the revival of Jesus Christ Superstar (Broadway and U.K. tour); Whistle Down the Wind (Aldwych eatre, London); e White Devil and Don Carlos (Royal Shakespeare Company); Der Besuch der alten Dame (Ronacher eatre, Vienna); Artus (St. Gallen, Switzerland) and Rebecca (St. Gallen and Stuttgart’s Palladium eater); and O -Broadway productions including Old Money , How I Learned to Drive , and e Long Christmas Ride Home . McCullough’s regional-theater work has been seen at the La Jolla Playhouse, Mark Taper Forum, Hartford Stage, Steppenwolf, and Center Stage, among others. Mark McCullough is supported by the Mary-Louise and James S. Aagard Lighting Director Endowed Chair. MARK GREY ( Sound Designer )’s association with Lyric has encom- passed seven productions since 2007-08, most recently My Fair Lady (2016/17), e King and I and e Merry Widow (both 2015/16), and Carousel (2014- 15). Grey made history as the rst sound designer of the New York Philharmonic (2002) and the Metropolitan Opera ( ve productions since 2015, most recently Iolanta/Bluebeard’s Castle ). For more than two decades, professional sound design relation- ships have led Grey to premiere works by such artists and organizations as John Adams, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Peter Eötvos, Terry Riley, Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers, and many others. Productions include St. Matthew Passion (Berlin Philharmonic/Simon Rattle/Peter Sellars at the Park Avenue Armory, New York, 2015). He designed and toured extensively with Kronos Quartet for nearly 15 years and is also a longtime collaborator of com- poser John Adams. As a composer, Grey has recently undertaken commissions for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His opera Frankenstein premiered at the éâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) on June 14, 2016. MICHAEL BLACK ( Chorus Master ) has been chorus master at Lyric since the 2013/14 season. 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 capac- ity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (including Rachmanino ’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, which continued his association with Grant Park Music Festival, where he has worked for two seasons. As one of Australia’s most prominent vocal accompanists, Black has regu- larly performed 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. Michael Black is the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Master Endowed Chair .