Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 6 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 | December 1, 2018 - January 20, 2019 SIOBHAN STAGG (Lucette/Cendrillon) American debut One of the most outstanding Australian artists to emerge in recent years, the soprano began her career at the Salzburg Festival (2013) and the Deutsche Oper Berlin (2013/15) before undertaking debuts at the Hamburg State Opera, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Grand éâtre de Genève, the Dutch National Opera, and the BBC Proms. She won great acclaim opening the 2017/18 season of London’s Royal Opera in her house debut as Pamina/ e Magic Flute . Stagg is currently a principal soloist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Recent Berlin highlights include her highly praised first per- formances of two formidable roles, Marguerite de Valois/ Les Huguenots and the Countess de Folleville/ Il viaggio a Reims (both in new productions), as well as her role debuts as Zerlina/ Don Giovanni and Musetta/ La bohème . Stagg has also recently starred in a gala with Rolando Villazón for the Salzburg Mozart Week, Gilda/ Rigoletto in Hamburg, Najade/ Ariadne auf Naxos (house debut) at the Bavarian State Opera, and her first Mélisande at Melbourne’s Victorian Opera, her debut with that company. Following Lyric’s Cendrillon she will sing her first Micaëla/ Carmen in Berlin, make her debut in Aix-en-Provence in staged performances of Mozart’s Requiem, and return to Covent Garden as Susanna/ e Marriage of Figaro . ALICE COOTE (Prince Charming) Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2001/02, most recently Octavian/ Der Rosenkavalier (2015/16); Composer/ Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12); Dejanira / Hercules (2010/11). e world-renowned English mezzo-soprano has triumphed as Prince Charming at London’s Royal Opera (DVD), with Sir Andrew Davis at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, and most recently at the Metropolitan Opera (company premiere, HD). Coote’s repertoire encompasses not only trouser roles of Monteverdi, Gluck, Mozart, Massenet, and Strauss, but also such diverse female roles as Poppea, Carmen, Charlotte, Donizetti’s Léonor, and Berlioz’s Marguerite. A major Handel interpreter, she is celebrated for Alcina (Stuttgart, Edinburgh, San Francisco, Paris, Vienna), Giulio Cesare (Metropolitan Opera, Paris), Ariodante (London, Toronto, Vienna, European tour with e English Concert), Orlando (London), and Hercules (London, Vienna, Paris, Toronto). During the past two seasons she has made acclaimed role debuts as Leonora/Adès’s e Exterminating Angel (Met), Vitellia/ La clemenza di Tito (Glyndebourne), and Sara/ Roberto Devereux (Frankfurt). Later this season she returns to Lyric’s stage as Ariodante and will sing the title role/Handel’s Agrippina (Munich), another role debut. A sought-after recit- alist worldwide, Coote has also earned great successes with the major orchestras of London, Boston, New York, and Amsterdam. Her discography includes a Handel recital, numerous song recitals, and major works of Monteverdi, Brahms, Mahler, and Elgar. DVD appearances include Alcina, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Lucrezia Borgia , and Hansel and Gretel . MARIE-EVE MUNGER (Fairy Godmother) Lyric debut e French-Canadian coloratura soprano first attracted attention win- ning the 2007 Marmande International Competition. She was immediately engaged by Paris’s éâtre du Châtelet, Opéra de Tours, and Opéra- éâtre de Metz. Appointed an associate artist of Paris’s Opéra-Comique in 2017, she was recently featured there as Musetta/ La bohème and Princess Elsbeth/Offenbach’s Fantasio . In addi- tion to celebrated French roles – Ophélie/ Hamlet (St. Paul, Metz, Göteborg), Juliet (Montreal, Charlotte, Toledo), Lakmé (St-Étienne, Munich), Fire, Princess, and Nightingale/ L’enfant et les sortilèges (in concert in Chicago and Munich with Esa-Pekka Salonen), Isabelle/ Le Pré aux Clercs (Wexford) – Munger’s repertoire has also encompassed Mozart (Costanza/ Il sogno di Sicipione , New York; Ilia/ Idomeneo, Milwaukee); Verdi (Gilda/ Rigoletto, St. Paul, Saratoga; Nannetta/ Falstaff , Metz); Handel (Michal/ Saul, New York); Villa-Lobos (Maria/ Magdalena, Paris). Munger appeared in Elektra at the BBC Proms with Semyon Bychkov, and in Patrice Chéreau’s celebrated production at Aix-en-Provence, La Scala, and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. She sang the world premieres of Régis Campo’s Paradis Perdu (commis- sioned for her by the Montreal Symphony Orchestra), Frédéric Verrières’s e Second Woman( éâtre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris), and Philippe Boesmans’s Pinocchio (Aix-en- Provence, Brussels, Dijon). Following Lyric's Cendrillon she will portray Strauss’s Zerbinetta in Lausanne and return to the Opéra-Comique's Bohème production for performances in Paris, Corsica, and Versailles. ELIZABETH BISHOP (Mme. de la Haltière) Lyric debut e American mezzo-soprano has performed in a remarkable diversity of styles with many important American opera companies and orchestras. She began the 2018/19 season with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New Jersey Symphony and will return to the Metropolitan Opera later this season as the Second Norn/ Götterdämmerung . Bishop’s close relationship with the Met has encompassed such major roles as the title role/ Iphigénie en Tauride (broadcast), Venus/ Tannhäuser , Mother Marie/ Dialogues of the Carmelites , and Fenena/ Nabucco , among others. Elsewhere she has recently been featured as Judith/ Bluebeard’s Castle (Portland Symphony), Herodias/ Salome (Florida Grand Opera), Marcellina/ e Marriage of Figaro (Palm Beach Opera, Washington National Opera), and Mary/ e Flying Dutchman (Cincinnati Opera). A frequent presence in Washington, she has sung more than ten roles at WNO (among them Mother Marie, Fricka, Sieglinde, Brangäne, Eboli, and the Marquise/ e Dangerous Liaisons ), and has starred at Washington Concert Opera in Adriana Lecouvreur , Cavalleria rusticana , and Roberto Devereux . An alumna of San Francisco Opera’s young-artist programs, she has appeared in more than 20 roles at SFO, most recently Fricka/ Ring cycle. e mezzo has also been heard with the major companies of Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Dallas, and Minnesota, and with the Boston Symphony, Atlanta Symphony, and Philadelphia Orchestra. DEREK WELTON (Pandolfe) American operatic debut e Australian-born bass-baritone, a soloist at the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 2015, has been featured in many major roles there, highlights of which include Prus/ e Makropulos Case , Forester/ e Cunning Little Vixen , Mr. Flint/ Billy Budd , Saint-Bris/ Les Huguenots , Peter/ Hänsel und Gretel , and Klingsor/ Parsifal , a role he will sing in his debut at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich later this season. Guest engagements have included Aribert Reimann’s Lear (Salzburg Festival, Franz Welser-Möst conducting), York Höller’s Der Meister und Margarita and Escamillo/ Carmen (both at the Hamburg State Opera), and Mozart’s Figaro (Glyndebourne). One of the most promising Wagner inter- preters of the younger generation, Welton has appeared in that repertoire at Opera North (Donner/ Das Rheingold ), the Beijing Music Festival (Klingsor/ Parsifal ), and Dresden’s Semperoper (Herald/ Lohengrin , Christian ielemann con- ducting). ese successes led to his role début as Wotan/ Das Rheingold at the Deutsche Oper Berlin under Donald Runnicles and his début at the Bayreuth Festival as Klingsor, both of which received widespread critical acclaim. Welton has performed in concerts worldwide, with recent highlights including Martinů’s Epic of Gilgamesh (Czech Philharmonic), Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (Leipzig Gewandhaus), Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Rotterdam Philharmonic), and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor (BBC Proms). EMILY POGORELC (Noémie) Lyric debut In 2018 the soprano, a Milwaukee native and first-year Ryan Opera Center member, graduated from the Curtis Institute of Music; earned the Ginette eano Prize for Most Promising Talent at the inaugural Glyndebourne Opera Cup; debuted at Washington National Opera as Cunegonde/ Candide ; and participated in the presti- gious Mozart Academy at the Aix-en-Provence Festival. Later this season she returns to the Lyric stage ( Elektra ) and to the Madison Symphony Orchestra (Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 ). Among other previous successes are Romilda/Xerxes, Berenice/Rossini’s L’occasione fa il ladro , and Johanna/ Sweeney Todd (Glimmerglass Festival); Chan Parker/ Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (New York’s Apollo eater); and Musetta/ La bohème , Fire/L’enfant et les sortilegès, and Lucia/ e Rape of Lucretia (all at Curtis). She has also appeared at Carnegie Hall (Berio’s Sinfonia ) and with the Bel Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has received first prize in numerous competitions, including e Carolyn Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition, the Hal Leonard Art Song Competition and the Classical Singer Magazine Competition. Emily Pogorelc is sponsored by Sally and Michael Feder , Ms. Gay K. Stanek, and Ms. Jennifer L. Stone .