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 26 | November 17 - December 9, 2018 BRIGITTE REIFFENSTUEL ( Costume Designer ) Previously at Lyric: Il trovatore (2014/15, 2006/07); Giulio Cesare (2007/08); Billy Budd (2001/02). The German costume designer was born in Munich and studied in London. She made her debut at London’s Royal Opera in 2003 with Charles Edwards’s production of Elektra and has since returned for Sir David McVicar’s productions of Faust and Adriana Lecouvreur , and Robert Carsen’s productions of Falstaff and Der Rosenkavalier . Her work has been seen at opera and theater companies worldwide, with productions including Falstaff (Canadian Opera Company, La Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Dutch National Opera), Faust (Opéra de Lille, Opéra de Monte Carlo, Teatro Verdi Trieste, Valencia’s Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, Opera Australia), Peter Grimes (London’s English National Opera, Ópera de Oviedo, De Vlaamse Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin) and Giulio Cesare (Lyric, Glyndebourne, Metropolitan Opera, Opéra de Lille). In Europe she has designed costumes for companies including Theater Bonn, the Zurich Opera House, Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet, Madrid’s Teatro Real, La Scala, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Stuttgart State Theatre, Komische Oper Berlin, Frankfurt Opera, and Deutsche Oper am Rhein. Among the companies where Reiffenstuel’s work will be seen this season are the Met ( Adriana Lecouvreur ), the Deutsche Oper Berlin ( La rondine ), and the Santa Fe Opera ( The Pearl Fishers ). JENNIFER TIPTON ( Original Lighting Designer ) Previously at Lyric: Eight productions since 1988/89, most recently Romeo and Juliet (2015/16); Il trovatore (2014/15, 2006/07); La clemenza di Tito (2013/14). The American lighting designer is well known for her work in theater, dance and opera. Her designs for La traviata were seen in seven cities throughout Britain earlier this season in the Welsh National Opera’s production. Other projects this season include Lyric’s revival of Sir David McVicar’s production of Elektra and David Lang’s The Loser at LA Opera. Tipton’s most recent opera productions include L’elisir d’amore and Maria Stuarda (the latter in its company premiere) at the Metropolitan Opera, David Lang’s Love Fail at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and Bartlett Sher’s production of Romeo and Julie t at both the Met and La Scala. Tipton’s recent work in dance includes The Age of Anxiety for the Royal Ballet. Recent work in theater includes Harold Pinter’s The Room for the Wooster Group. Tipton teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. She received the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize in 2001, the Jerome Robbins Prize in 2003 and in April 2004 the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City. In 2008 she was made a United States Artists “Gracie” Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow. CHRIS MARAVICH (Revival Lighting Designer) Previously at Lyric: Nine productions since 2014/15, most recently Idomeneo (2018/19); Così fan tutte, I puritani (both 2017/18) . Currently Lyric’s lighting director, Maravich served in the same position from 2006 to 2012 at San Francisco Opera, where he created lighting for many of the company productions including  The Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Così fan tutte, Turandot, Cyrano de Bergerac, Il trittico, Tosca, Simon Boccanegra, Don Giovanni, Nixon in China , and Attila. Maravich has collaborated on the lighting designs for  Doktor Faust  at Staatsoper Stuttgart,  Tannhäuser  for the Greek National Opera, and  La fanciulla del West, The Makropulos Case, The Daughter of the Regiment, Il trovatore, Samson et Dalila,  and Macbeth  for San Francisco Opera. He has also designed lighting for Opera Colorado, San Diego Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Florida Grand Opera, Madison Opera, Cal Performances and Opera San José. MICHAEL BLACK (Chorus Master) Chorus master since 2013/14; interim chorus master, 2011/12. Chorus master from to 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 that capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (including Rachmaninoff’s The 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 chorus of The Damnation of Faust , continuing 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 regularly 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. 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. 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 Theatre, 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 Theatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre 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. NICK SANDYS (Fight Director) Previously at Lyric: 47 productions since 1995/96, most recently Jesus Christ Superstar, Faust, Rigoletto (all 2017/18). A certified teacher and fight director with The Society of American Fight Directors, Sandys has created fight choreography throughout the Chicago area, including for the Goodman (more than 25 productions), Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, Northlight, First Folio, Shattered Globe, Victory Gardens, Remy Bumppo, Timeline, Light Opera Works, Silk Road Rising, and The Theatre School at DePaul University (adjunct since 1995). His work outside Chicago includes the Metropolitan Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Portland Opera, Florentine Opera and Dallas Opera, as well as many major theater companies nationwide. Sandys’s fight choreography has received four Joseph Jefferson Award nominations, winning in 2008 ( Requiem for a Heavyweight ). He is also producing artistic director of Remy Bumppo Theatre Company. As an actor he has appeared with numerous Chicago theaters, receiving another nine Jeff nominations for acting and two for directing. He holds a 2011 Meier Foundation Award for Artistic Achievement and is a 2018 APA Audie Award Finalist.