Lyric Opera 2018-2019 Issue 8 Elektra

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 February 2 - 22, 2019 | 25 the Bavarian State Opera as Helmwige/ Die Walküre , which she has reprised with the Berlin Philharmonic, LA Opera, the Berlin State Opera, La Scala (DVD), and the BBC Proms. Among her other successes are Isolde (Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, Russia’s Stars of the White Nights Festival) Sieglinde (Festspiel Baden- Baden), and Leonore/ Fidelio (Opera Roanoke). Foster has collaborated with such distinguished conductors as Barenboim, Conlon, Gergiev, Rattle, Petrenko, and Nagano. Among the other companies with which she has performed are Washington National Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, New York City Opera, and Chautauqua Opera, in addition to appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and West Virginia Symphony. She can be heard on CD in the Lyric Opera Center recording of Hugo Weisgall’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. LAUREN DECKER (First Maid) Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2016/17, most recently Inez/ Il trovatore (2018/19); Enrichetta/ I puritani Schwertleite/ Die Walküre , (both 2017/18). e contralto, a third-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, was featured last season alongside Christine Goerke and Eric Owens in the Harris eater’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. e Wisconsin native holds a B.F.A. in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, and has performed in opera scenes with Milwaukee’s Kalliope Vocal Arts. She also participated in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the American Wagner Project (Washington, D.C.) and the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto (Italy). Decker portrayed Sally/Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge at the Up North Vocal Institute (Boyne Falls, Michigan) and has performed in concert with the Apollo Chorus/ Elmhurst Symphony (Verdi Requiem ), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Harare International Festival of the Arts (Zimbabwe). Winner of the 2018 Lola Fletcher scholarship in voice from the American Opera Society of Chicago, she returns to the Lyric stage later this season in La traviata . Lauren Decker is sponsored by an Anonymous Donor , Susan M. Miller, and e ierer Family Foundation. MARY PHILLIPS (Second Maid) Lyric debut The American mezzo- soprano has been widely heard in Wagner, includ- ing Brangäne/ Tristan und Isolde (Dallas, Winnipeg), Erda/ Das Reingold (Scottish Opera), Fricka/ Das Rheingold (Pittsburgh Festival Opera), and in full Ring cycles with Canadian Opera Company, Scottish Opera, and Seattle Opera. With the Metropolitan Opera she has portrayed both Rossweisse and Schwertleite/ Die Walküre , Ježibaba/ Rusalka , and Mrs. Alexander/Philip Glass’s Satyagraha (company premiere). She sings Rossweisse again this spring with the Met. Her many successes encompass such varied repertoire Azucena/ Il trovatore (Seattle, Phoenix), Eboli/ Don Carlo (Austin, Sarasota, Toronto, Vancouver), Herodias/ Salome (Edmonton), Gertrude/ Hamlet (Birmingham), Madame Larina/ Eugene Onegin (Spoleto, USA), Eduige/ Rodelinda (Dallas), and Sister Helen Prejean/ Dead Man Walking (Austin). Phillips’s facility with contemporary works led to her New York Philharmonic debut in Michael Torke’s Four Seasons and Aaron Jay Kernis’s Garden of Light (both world premieres) and Jake Heggie’s song cycle e Starry Night at Ravinia, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and the Library of Congress. Concert engagements include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (New York Philharmonic) and Symphony No. 2 (Los Angeles Philharmonic, Atlanta Symphony), and performances with the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Philharmonia Baroque. KRYSTY SWANN ( ird Maid) Previously at Lyric: Grimgerde/ Die Walküre (2017/18); Rebecca Parker/ Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (2016/17). is season the Philadelphia- born mezzo-soprano returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Nico Muhly’s Marnie (world premiere), Die Walküre , and Il tabarro . Highlights during the 2017/18 season included Grimgerde/ Die Walküre (Dallas Symphony Orchestra), Grandma/Douglas Tappin’s I Dream (Opera Carolina and Toledo Opera), and Irina/Kurt Weill’s Lost in the Stars (Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis). Among other important achievements have been Amneris/ Aida (Bucharest National Opera); Maddalena/ Rigoletto (Atlanta Opera); Rebecca Parker/Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird (Madison Opera); and her Milan debut with the Laverdi Orchestra. Swann's New York credits include Lola/ Cavalleria rusticana (Opera Orchestra of New York), Suzuki/ Madama Butterfly (New York City Opera), Emilia/Weill’s e Firebrand of Florence (Alice Tully Hall), the Mozart Requiem (Carnegie Hall), and the Verdi Requiem (Lincoln Center). She has also appeared with the major orchestras of Boston, Baltimore, and Rochester. Swann is a winner of the 2013 Marcello Giordani International Vocal Competition in Italy and the Intermezzo Foundation Award (Elardo International Opera Competition), as well as a two-time winner of the coveted Richard F. Gold Career Grant. ALEXANDRA L O BIANCO (Fourth Maid) Previously at Lyric: Helmwige/ Die Walküre (2017/18). Recent highlights in the American soprano’s burgeon- ing career include acclaimed performances in four formidable roles: Aida (Seattle Opera, Opera Colorado), Ariadne (Austin Lyric Opera debut), Turandot (Des Moines Metro Opera), and Leonore/ Fidelio (Vienna State Opera, European debut). She debuted at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera as Gerhilde/ Die Walküre , and has portrayed Helmwige in that work for a tour of Japan with the Vienna State Opera. Other major successes include the title role/ La fanciulla del West (Des Moines), Amelia/ Un ballo in maschera (Miami), Miss Jessel/ e Turn of the Screw (Dallas), Tosca (Grand Rapids, St. Paul), Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni (Seattle), and Magda Sorel/ e Consul (Santa Barbara). LoBianco has performed the complete role of Brünnhilde with St. Louis’s Union Avenue Opera, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for its production of Il trovatore . Later this season the soprano brings her portrayal of Tosca to North Carolina Opera. She will also star as Senta/ e Flying Dutchman with Baltimore Concert Opera and will return to the Madison Symphony Orchestra (where she was previously heard in Rachmaninoff’s e Bells ) for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. ANN TOOMEY (Fifth Maid) Previously at Lyric: Musetta/ La bohème (2018/19); First Lady/ e Magic Flute (2016/17). A Michigan native and third-year Ryan Opera Center member, the soprano appeared last season at the Grant Park Music Festival as Laetitia/Menotti’s e Old Maid and the ief and alongside tenor Lawrence Brownlee in the Harris eater’s “Beyond the Aria” series. Toomey has also been heard with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (Fiordiligi/ Così fan tutte , Boonyi/Jack Perla’s new opera Shalimar the Clown – studio production, soprano soloist/ Brahms’s German Requiem ). She earned her bachelor of music degree at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan (Despina/ Cosi fan tutte , Nella/ Gianni Schicchi , soprano soloist/Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass ). Toomey portrayed Gabrielle/ La rondine at Opera eatre of Saint Louis while participating in the 2015 Gerdine Young Artist program. She was a 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions national semifinalist and an award recipient in the 2015 Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition at UCC-CM. Ann Toomey is sponsored by e Susan and Richard P. Kiphart Family, Richard O. Ryan, and Richard W. Shepro and Lindsay E. Roberts. PHILIP HORST (Orest’s Tutor) Previously at Lyric: Pantheus/ Les Troyens (2016/17); Count Capulet/ Roméo et Juliette (2015/16); Gamekeeper/ Rusalka (2013/14). e American bass-baritone returned to San Francisco Opera earlier this season in one of his Lyric roles, the Gamekeeper/ Rusalka . He has previously been featured at San Francisco as Pantheus/ Les Troyens , Fritz Kothner/ Die Meistersinger