Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 1 Millennium Park Program

17 LEVI HERNANDEZ , a Ryan Opera Center alumnus, has sung nine roles at Lyric, among them Dandini/ La Cenerentola , Schaunard/ La bohème , and Marullo/ Rigoletto . Recent portrayals include Marcello/ La bohème (Opera Colorado, where he returns later this season as Tonio/ Pagliacci ), Rambaldo/ La rondine (Minnesota Opera), Sharpless/ Madama Butter y (Kentucky Opera), and roles in contemporary repertoire, among them Alvaro/Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas (San Diego Opera, Madison Opera), Rabbi Lampert/Ben Moore’s Enemies: A Love Story (Kentucky Opera), Pa Joad/Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath (Michigan Opera Theater), and Inspector Kildare/Kevin Puts’s Elizabeth Cree (Chicago Opera Theater), The baritone has appeared with many other prominent American companies, including those of Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Houston, St. Louis, and Omaha. He has also been heard at the Teatro Nacional Sucre in Quito, Ecuador, and at Berlin’s Komische Oper. Hernandez’s summer festival credits include Bard Music Festival, Opera North, and the Spoleto Festival. CHRISTOPHER KENNEY , a second-year Ryan Opera Center member, appears at Lyric this season in The Barber of Seville and Madama Butter y . He made his Grant Park Music Festival debut in 2018 as Bob/Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief . Kenney was recently a member of Washington National Opera’s Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program. While there, he was heard in The Barber of Seville , The Little Prince , and Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up (world premiere). Additionally, he was a featured soloist with the National Symphony Orchestra. A former Santa Fe Opera apprentice artist, Kenney is a three-time winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council District Auditions and winner of the 2014 Alltech Vocal Scholarship Competition. The baritone is an alumnus of Concordia College, the University of Kentucky, and Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. Christopher Kenney is sponsored by an Anonymous Donor. ADAM PLACHETKA returns to Lyric this season as Figaro/ The Barber of Seville , after previously starring in The Magic Flute and The Marriage of Figaro . A native of Prague, the bass-baritone recently returned to his hometown’s National Theatre in Smetana’s Dalibor . This season Plachetka will star as Mozart’s Figaro at the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera (where he also sings Count Almaviva in that production). Recent successes include Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte , Publio/ La clemenza di Tito (Baden-Baden), and Belcore/ L’elisir d’amore (London). Since 2010 he has been a favorite at the Vienna State Opera, acclaimed in Mozart, Handel, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Berlioz, and Puccini. Plachetka’s successes also include Mozart’s Figaro at the Salzburg and Glyndebourne festivals, and performances at La Scala, La Monnaie in Brussels, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Berlin State Opera, and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera. Renowned conductors with whom Plachetka has collaborated include Barenboim, Gergiev, Muti, Nézet-Séguin, and Welser-Möst. View Us on your Tablet or Phone Call Us to Place Your Ad Since 1991 847.770.4620 | performancemedia.us Wherever you go, we’re right there with you! The Art Institute of Chicago Magazine • Auditorium Theatre Program • Chicago Botanic Garden Magazine • Chicago Philharmonic Program Chicago Wedding & Party Resource • Citadel Theatre Program • Do North Guide • Field Museum Magazine • Forest Preserves of Cook County Guide Kohl Children’s Museum Visitor Guide • Lake Forest Symphony Program • Lyric Opera Millennium Park Program • Lyric Opera of Chicago Program One of a Kind Show Guide • Randolph Street Market Festival Guide • Ravinia Family Fun Program • Ravinia Magazine • Ravinia Steans Music Institute Program