Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 4 Siegfried

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 24 | November 3 - 16, 2018 BURKHARD FRITZ (Siegfried) American operatic stage debut The German tenor is especially renowned for heroic Wagner roles. The past several seasons have included triumphs as Tannhäuser (Oper Leipzig, Berlin State Opera, Vlaamse Opera); Lohengrin (Vienna State Opera, Royal Danish Opera, Deutsche Oper am Rhein); Parsifal (Bayreuth Festival, Beijing Music Festival); Siegmund/ Die Walküre (Oper Leipzig); and Erik/ The Flying Dutchman (Cologne Opera). After studying medicine at the University of Hamburg, Fritz joined first the Stadttheater Bremerhaven and subsequently Gelsenkirchen’s Musiktheater, before spending six years at one of Europe’s most prestigious theaters, the Berlin State Opera. Besides Wagner, stage successes encompass roles by Beethoven (Florestan/ Fidelio , Tel Aviv, Florence, Amsterdam), Weber (Max/ Der Freischütz , Hamburg, Berlin), and Strauss (Emperor/ Die Frau ohne Schatten , Leipzig, Berlin, Frankfurt). Later this season Fritz stars in Parsifal (Munich), Die tote Stadt (Dresden), and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Berlin). He recently performed in concert with the Staatskapelle Berlin and at the Berlin State Opera’s Wagner Gala. The tenor is featured on DVD in Benvenuto Cellini, Les vêpres siciliennes, Gurrelieder , and The Mahler Project: Mahler No. 8 “Symphony of a Thousand.” He has recorded with the Bavarian State Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Orchestra, and Frankfurt Opera and Museum Orchestra. CHRISTINE GOERKE (Brünnhilde) Previously at Lyric: Brünnhilde/ Die Walküre (2017/18); Cassandre/ Les Troyens (2016/17); title role/ Elektra (2012/13). The American soprano is internationally celebrated for many of opera’s most formidable roles, including Brünnhilde (Houston, Toronto, Edinburgh); Turandot (London, Philadelphia, New York); Elektra (London, Madrid, Houston, Boston, New York, San Francisco); the Dyer’s Wife/ Die Frau ohne Schatten (New York); and Ariadne (Santiago, Houston). Goerke has won particular acclaim for Brünnhilde, which she reprises this season in Ring cycles at the Metropolitan Opera. Before returning to the Met, she will star as Elektra at the Canadian Opera Company. She has appeared on many other major opera stages worldwide, among them the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris, and Madrid’s Teatro Real. Goerke has been featured on Grammy Award-winning recordings of Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony conducted by Robert Spano (Best Classical Recording and Best Choral Performance) and Britten’s War Requiem under her mentor, Robert Shaw (Best Choral Performance). The soprano initiated her ascent to prominence with Iphigénie en Tauride (Glimmerglass Opera Festival, New York City Opera, CD) and as Mozart’s Donna Elvira (Met, Seattle, Paris, Tokyo), Donna Anna (Covent Garden, Tokyo), and Elettra and Vitellia (both in Paris). Her many awards include the Richard Tucker Award, the Musical America Vocalist of the Year Award, and the Opera News Award. ERIC OWENS (The Wanderer) Previously at Lyric: Six roles since 2007/08, most recently Wotan/ Die Walküre (2017/18); Wotan/ Das Rheingold (2016/17); Porgy/ Porgy and Bess (2014/15). The celebrated American bass-baritone’s successes in Wagner roles include the Dutchman (Washington) and Alberich (Metropolitan Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, DVD). This season he returns to the Met for another major Wagner role, Hagen/ Götterdämmerung , and reprises Porgy (Amsterdam). In recent seasons Owens has triumphed at the Met in three other roles: Vodník/ Rusalka (new production), Jaufré/ Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin (new production, company premiere), and Orest/ Elektra (new production), all seen worldwide in HD. Recent highlights also include Méphistophélès/ The Damnation of Faust with the New Zealand Symphony and Orest at the Verbier Festival; Philip II/ Don Carlo (Opera Philadelphia); and bass soloist/Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Berlin Philharmonic). Owens earned repeated successes premiering contemporary works, such as Goldenthal’s Grendel (Los Angeles), John Adams’s A Flowering Tree (Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival, CD) and Doctor Atomic (San Francisco, DVD, CD). Owens’s operatic versatility encompasses The Magic Flute (Paris); Norma (Covent Garden); Rigoletto and Il trovatore (Los Angeles); and Macbeth, Lost in the Stars, and The Rape of Lucretia (Glimmerglass Festival, where Owens has been artistic adviser since 2017). The Houston Grand Opera Studio alumnus serves Lyric as a Community Ambassador and the Curtis Institute as co-director of the Curtis Vocal Studies Department and Curtis Opera Theatre. MATTHIAS KLINK (Mime) Lyric debut The German tenor, Opernwelt magazine’s 2017 Singer of the Year, is a native of Stuttgart. He performs frequently there at the city’s State Opera, with 14 major roles since 2013/14, among them Aschenbach/ Death in Venice , Don José/ Carmen , Herod/ Salome , Max/ Der Freischütz , Eisenstein/ Die Fledermaus , Policeman/Doctor/Archangel/Mark Andre’s Wunderzaichen (world premiere), Faust/ The Damnation of Faust , and the Captain/ Wozzeck . Other recent credits include Alwa/ Lulu (Hamburg, Munich) and the Earl of Kent/ Lear (Salzburg Festival). Klink debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2009 (Tamino/ The Magic Flute ) and has also performed in the major opera houses of Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Milan, Amsterdam, and Barcelona. This spring he returns to Stuttgart to portray Mao Zedong/ Nixon in China . He has appeared in concert at Paris’s Salle Pleyel, the Kölner Philharmonie, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Salzburg Easter Festival, and Vienna’s Musikverein. On DVD the tenor has recorded Belmonte/ The Abduction from the Seraglio (performances with both Stuttgart State Opera and Les Musiciens du Louvre), Don Polidoro/ La finta semplice (Salzburg Festival), and Narraboth/ Salome (La Scala). He can be heard on CDwith the Munich Radio Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, SWR Vokalensemble, Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra, and Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. RONNITA MILLER (Erda) Lyric debut The American mezzo- soprano reprises a role she has made her own in recent years, including at the world-renowned Deutsche Oper Berlin where she is currently a member of the ensemble. She has sung 27 roles in Berlin since the 2013/14 season, ranging stylistically from Marcellina/ The Marriage of Figaro and Marthe Schwertlein/ Faust to Fenena/ Nabucco , Ulrica/ Un ballo in maschera , and Bianca/ The Rape of Lucretia ; she also won great acclaim for her performance as Fidès/ Le prophète . Other recent highlights include Erda/ Das Rheingold and Siegfried and First Norn/ Götterdämmerung (San Francisco Opera), Amando/Ligeti’s Le grand macabre (Berlin Philharmonic), Fricka/ Die Walküre (Odense Symphony Orchestra Denmark), and Mary/ The Flying Dutchman (Ravinia Festival, LA Opera). Miller soon takes Erda/ Das Rheingold to Madrid’s Teatro Real and returns to the Metropolitan Opera as First Norn (she debuted there in the role in 2011). Concert appearances include Verdi’s Requiem at Hannover’s Staatstheater. She appears on DVD in Aribert Reimann’s L’Invisible (world premiere, Deutsche Oper), and can be heard on CD in Dett’s oratorio The Ordering of Moses with the May Festival Chorus and the Cincinnati Symphony as well as in “Diex, Com Leur Avient” part of a complete set of Stravinsky’s works. The mezzo-soprano is well known on the Berlin jazz scene.