Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 5 Il Travatore

L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O 6 | November 17 - December 9, 2018 Giuseppe Verdi’s Il trovatore has a distinguished history at Lyric Opera of Chicago, beginning with the production in 1955 that paired Maria Callas and Jussi Björling. Those legendary artists, and any number of great Verdians since then, have demonstrated to our audiences that it takes exceptional vocal prowess to do justice to this glorious work. In any great performance of Il trovatore , we can savor a limitless sequence of extraordinary melodies that are incomparably beautiful, but also emotional, sometimes even demonic, and always uniquely invigorating. Verdi moves from the soaring, lovestruck arias of Leonora to the stupendously exciting call to arms of Manrico, while also bringing spellbinding intensity and psychological insight to Azucena, and overwhelming passion to Count di Luna. Each of these characters truly lives through Verdi’s music. Il trovatore is a wonderful choral opera as well. I’m referring not only to the gypsies’ “Anvil Chorus” that opens Act Two – justifiably celebrated as one of the greatest hits of Italian opera – but also the marvelous music for the groups of soldiers, nuns, and monks. Verdi’s choral writing equals what he gave his soloists, with all the originality, the vigor, and the dramatic color that make him unique. This work gives us opera at its most essential, its most fundamental. The plot of Il trovatore has been criticized by some as impossibly convoluted, but onstage it works when presented to audiences with the degree of conviction that it will have at Lyric. Sir David McVicar’s production gives us a truly memorable vision of the piece, imbued with all the darkness and the sinister dimension that so memorably distinguish the works of the painter Francisco Goya, the production’s inspiration. Lyric originated this production, co-produced with the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera. It’s been a great success in all three companies. We’re enormously fortunate to have a cast and conductor who can present Il trovatore with all the stylistic flair and dramatic excitement it demands. In the title role is Russell Thomas, who is now recognized internationally as one of the finest spinto tenors this country has produced in many decades. Opposite him as Leonora, in a very important Lyric debut, is the marvelous American soprano Tamara Wilson, who has made an impressive name for herself as one of today’s few genuine Verdian voices. Jamie Barton, the thrilling American mezzo-soprano who has been moving into Verdi repertoire to great acclaim, is returning to us in the spectacular role of Azucena. We have two other exciting Lyric debuts: the dashing Polish baritone Artur Ruciński (Count di Luna), who has made Verdi a specialty in major international houses, including those of London, Vienna, Milan, and Venice; and Italian bass Roberto Tagliavini (Ferrando), an emerging star now embarked on an important career, who deeply impressed me at the 2017 Salzburg Festival. Il trovatore can’t take wing without a conductor who possesses a thorough command of “middle-period” Verdi – those extraordinary operas that balance the greatest virtues of bel canto opera with the dramatic power and grandeur of scale that are Verdi’s own. Marco Armiliato comes to this repertoire not simply with a native Italian’s connection to it, but with the stylistic authority that has brought him one success after another at the Vienna State Opera, the Met, and many other prestigious houses. Welcome to what promises to be an unforgettable production of Il trovatore ! Anthony Freud General Director, President & CEO The Women’s Board Endowed Chair From the General Director STEVE LEONARD