Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 5 Il Travatore

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 17 - December 9, 2018 RUSSELL THOMAS (Manrico) Previously at Lyric: Pollione/ Norma (2016/17). The internationally acclaimed American tenor began the 2018/19 season at San Francisco Opera singing the title role/ Roberto Devereux (role debut). This season also includes Mozart’s Tito (Los Angeles) and Verdi’s Otello (Thomas’s first staged performances of the role in Toronto, with further performances in Berlin). He triumphed as Otello in concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. Previous successes encompass leading roles in operas of Mozart ( La clemenza di Tito , Salzburg); Beethoven ( Fidelio , Cincinnati); Bellini ( Norma , Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto, Valencia); Verdi ( Nabucco , Met, Seattle; Don Carlo , Washington, Berlin; Simon Boccanegra , London; Stiffelio , Frankfurt); Mascagni ( Cavalleria rusticana , Berlin); and Puccini ( Tosca , Los Angeles). Thomas created Lazarus/John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary and has performed the work at English National Opera, Ravinia, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which commissioned it. Among many other notable engagements have been Loge/ Das Rheingold , Das Lied von der Erde , the Verdi Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Boston Symphony at Tanglewood. An alumnus of the Metropolitan Opera’s young-artist program, Thomas received the Grand Prize, Audience Prize, and Tenor Prize in Barcelona’s highly prestigious Francisco Viñas Competition in 2010. TAMARA WILSON (Leonora) Lyric debut Winner of the highly prestigious Richard Tucker Award, the Arizona-born dramatic soprano has rapidly gained international recognition, particularly as the heroines of Verdi and Strauss. She has previously triumphed in Il trovatore in Barcelona, Houston, Toulouse, and Mallorca. Among the ten other Verdi operas in her stage repertoire are I due Foscari (Toulouse, Santiago, Amsterdam), La forza del destino (London – Olivier Award nomination), Don Carlos (Houston, Munich, Zurich, Frankfurt), and Un ballo in maschera (Berlin, Washington). Highlights of Wilson’s 2018/19 season include her return to the Metropolitan Opera ( Aida ) and the Zurich Opera House (Chrysothemis/ Elektra ), as well as her mainstage debut at La Scala (the Prima Donna and Ariadne/ Ariadne auf Naxos , after appearing with the company in the Verdi Requiem in Pavia, Paris, and Hamburg). Her versatility extends to Don Giovanni (Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra), Norma (Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu), Die Walküre (BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), and Die Fledermaus (in Japan under Ozawa). In demand for concert works, Wilson has made greatly acclaimed appearances with the major orchestras of New York, Washington, Cleveland, Chicago, London, and Amsterdam, among many others. She appears on CD in the Frankfurt production of Die Frau ohne Schatten. JAMIE BARTON (Azucena) Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2011/12, most recently Giovanna/ Anna Bolena (2014/15); Magdalene/ Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (2012/13); Dryade/ Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12). Earlier this season the American mezzo-soprano, greatly acclaimed at Cincinnati Opera for her first Azucena, reprised the role in Munich and sang Sara/ Roberto Devereux in San Francisco. Following Lyric’s Trovatore , she portrays Sister Helen Prejean/ Dead Man Walking (Atlanta Opera) and Fricka/ Ring cycle (Metropolitan Opera) before returning to San Francisco as Ježibaba/ Rusalka , a role she debuted in the Met’s new production. Recent operatic highlights include La favorite (Madrid’s Teatro Real), Norma (Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera), Don Carlo (Washington National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin), and the Ring cycle (San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera). Among Barton’s prestigious orchestral and recital engagements have been Jake Heggie’s The Work at Hand (world premiere) at Carnegie Hall, a Wigmore Hall debut, and appearances with London Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra. Her debut solo album, All Who Wander , featuring songs by Mahler, Dvořák, and Sibelius, was named winner of the 2018 BBC Music Magazine Vocal Award. Barton is also winner of the Beverly Sills Artist Award, Richard Tucker Award, International Opera Award, Marian Anderson Award, Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, and both Main and Song Prizes at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. ARTUR RUCIŃSKI (Count di Luna) Lyric debut The Warsaw-born baritone belongs to a select group of Polish opera singers who have risen to international fame in recent years. He built his repertoire at the Polish National Opera, beginning with his 2002 debut in the title role/ Eugene Onegin . His career breakthrough came with that role under Daniel Barenboim at the Berlin State Opera, and he has since triumphed as Onegin in Valencia (DVD), London, Munich, Bologna, and Warsaw. Ruciński has made Verdi a specialty, with successes including Il trovatore (Vienna Festival, Salzburg Festival, Venice, Verona, Barcelona), Simon Boccanegra (La Scala), Attila (Warsaw), I masnadieri (Venice, Parma, Rome), La traviata (Berlin, London, Verona, San Francisco), and Falstaff (Frankfurt). The baritone is also a noted interpreter of Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Paris); Donizetti ( Don Pasquale , Valencia; Lucia di Lammermoor , Hamburg, Zurich, Paris, London, Tokyo, Madrid); and Puccini ( La bohème, Paris, Los Angeles - American debut, Paris; Madama Butterfly , Metropolitan Opera debut; Gianni Schicchi , Paris). Highlights later this season include his Opéra de Monte Carlo debut ( Luisa Miller ) and his return to both the Met ( La traviata ) and the Opéra National de Paris ( Iolanta ). Ruciński has appeared in concert at the Warsaw Festival and in Paris, Oslo, Dresden, Vienna, and Berlin. ROBERTO TAGLIAVINI (Ferrando) Lyric debut The Italian bass, a Parma native, made his professional debut in 2005 in his hometown’s Teatro Regio in Gluck’s Alceste . During the past decade he has been heard in all the major Italian houses, including La Scala ( Il viaggio a Reims, Le comte Ory, Aida, Il trovatore ), the Verona Arena ( Attila, Aida, Il trovatore) , the Teatro dell’Opera in Rome ( Turandot, Maometto II ), Turin’s Teatro Regio ( Don Carlo, La Cenerentola ), and Florence’s Maggio Musicale ( Aida ), among others. Tagliavini has also been applauded in France ( Les contes d’Hoffmann, Carmen, La bohème, La Cenerentola, Il trovatore, Paris), Germany ( Attila, Nabucco, Berlin), Spain ( I puritani, Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo and Juliet , Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Madrid; Il viaggio a Reims, Barcelona), China and Russia ( Attila , Shanghai and St. Petersburg), and Austria ( Nabucco, I due Foscari, Vienna). He has appeared in the U.S. in Los Angeles ( The Marriage of Figaro , Macbeth ) and at the Metropolitan Opera ( La bohème ). Since his 2007 debut in Benvenuto Cellini , he has been heard at the Salzburg Festival with roles including Talbot/ Giovanna d’Arco , Loredano/ I due Foscari , and the King/ Aida . Highlights of his busy 2018/19 season include Faust (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Nabucco (Bavarian State Opera), and Carmen (Opéra National de Paris). LAUREN DECKER (Inez) Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2016/17, most recently Enrichetta/ I puritani, Schwertleite/ Die Walküre, Giovanna/ Rigoletto (all 2017/18). The contralto, a third-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, was featured last season at the Grant Park Music Festival in Menotti's The Old Maid and the Thief; and with Christine Goerke and Eric Owens in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series. She was a national semifinalist in the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, having previously been a two-time recipient of an Encouragement Award in the MONCA’s Upper Midwest Region. The