Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 1 Millennium Park Program

15 SIR ANDREW DAVIS leads The Barber of Seville , The Queen of Spades , Götterdämmerung and the Ring cycle at Lyric this season. Lyric’s music director and principal conductor since 2000 and chief conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra since 2013, Davis is soon to return to the MSO (Handel’s Messiah in Davis’s own orchestration, also to be heard with Washington’s National Symphony); the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Massenet’s Thaïs and other works); and the CSO (Beethoven and Tippett). Among his major achievements recently was Götterdämmerung at the Edinburgh International Festival. Davis’s career has included artistic leadership of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted at the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, London’s Royal Opera House, and the Bayreuth Festival; the major opera companies of Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Santa Fe; and virtually every other internationally prominent orchestra, including those of Berlin, Amsterdam, and London. An award-winning discography documents Sir Andrew’s artistry, with recent CDs including works of Berlioz, Bliss, and Elgar (winner of the 2018 Diapason d’Or de l’Année). Sir Andrew Davis is the John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Music Director Endowed Chair. MICHAEL BLACK has been Lyric’s chorus master since 2013/14. He held the same position at Opera Australia from 2001 to 2013. Black has served in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir. He has also worked with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Recent activities include preparing the Damnation of Faust chorus at the 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 (including numerous appearances on 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, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. He has also been a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, of which he is an alumnus. Michael Black is the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Master Endowed Chair. KRZYSZTOF BACZYK debuts at Lyric this season as Basilio/ The Barber of Seville . The Polish bass’s early-career successes included The Magic Flute and Alcina (Aix-en-Provence), La clemenza di Tito (Warsaw), and Acis and Galatea (Salzburg). In recent seasons he sang the Commendatore and Masetto/ Don Giovanni in Stockholm; Capellio/ I Capuleti e i Montecchi , Melisso/ Alcina , Raimondo/ Lucia di Lammermoor , Masetto/ Don Giovanni and Colline/ La bohème (all at the Zurich Opera House); and the Mozart Requiem (Opéra National de Lorraine). Other appearances have included his Opéra National de Paris debut ( Don Carlos ) and roles in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk , Iolanta, Tosca , The Magic Flute and Zuniga/ Carmen at Polish National Opera, Rossini’s Stabat Mater (Toulouse’s Orchestre National du Capitole), Alcina (Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées), The Fiery Angel (Polish National Opera, Aix-en-Provence Festival), and Masetto (NDR Philharmonie Hannover). Most recently he debuted at ABAO Olbe Bilbao as Colline and made his U.S. debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. LAWRENCE BROWNLEE returns to Lyric this season as Almaviva/ The Barber of Seville , following his acclaimed appearances in I puritani , Charlie Parker’s Yardbird , La Cenerentola , and a recital with bass-baritone Eric Owens. Winner of 2017’s “Male Singer of the Year” award from the International Opera Awards and Bachtrack, the American tenor this season reprises Ramiro/ La Cenerentola (Amsterdam) and Almaviva (Dallas), while also singing his rst Fernand/ La favorite (Houston Grand Opera). Brownlee has starred in bel canto repertoire at the Met and in Zurich, Paris, and Munich, among many other venues. In Philadelphia he created Charlie/ Charlie Parker’s Yardbird , reprised in New York and London prior to his Lyric appearance in the role. Brownlee has performed with many major orchestras ARTIST PROFILES