Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 3 Luisa Miller

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 20 Artist profiles KRASSIMIRA STOYANOVA | LUISA MILLER Previously at Lyric: Amelia Grimaldi/ Simon Boccanegra (2012/13). The Bulgarian soprano, a celebrated Verdian internationally, continues in that repertoire this season with the Requiem (Zagreb) and Un ballo in maschera and Otello (Vienna State Opera, where she was made a “Kammersängerin” in 2009). Among other recent Verdi successes are Aida (Munich, Met, Chicago Symphony Orchestra), Simon Boccanegra (Berlin, La Scala), Don Carlo (Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna), and Il trovatore (Munich). Recent seasons have also seen triumphs in operas of Donizetti ( Lucrezia Borgia , Salzburg); Strauss ( Der Rosenkavalier , Salzburg, Vienna, Zurich; Ariadne auf Naxos , Dresden, La Scala; Die Liebe der Danae , Salzburg); and Dvorák ( Rusalka , Vienna). Among other rarely performed works in Stoyanova’s repertoire are Gomes’s Il Guarany and Fosca (Sofia), Verdi’s La battaglia di Legnano (New York), and Dvorák’s Dmitry (Vienna). Collaborations with leading conductors have included Riccardo Muti (Chicago, Ravenna), the late Sir Colin Davis (St. Paul’s Cathedral), Mariss Jansons (the Vatican), and Christian Thielemann (Munich). JOSEPH CALLEJA | RODOLFO Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2007/08, most recently Don José/ Carmen (2016/17); Romeo/ Romeo and Juliet (2015/16); Alfredo Germont/ La traviata (2013/14, 2007/08). Past recipient of an Opera News Award, the International Opera Awards’ Readers Award, and Gramophone ’s Artist of the Year Award, the world-renowned Maltese tenor returns this season to the Metropolitan Opera ( La bohème ), Munich’s Bavarian State Opera ( Rigoletto , Simon Boccanegra ), and the Vienna State Opera ( Tosca ). Among his recent successes have been Lucia di Lammermoor (Berlin), Norma (Munich), Tosca (Met), and his role debut in Luisa Miller (Hamburg). Calleja has starred in more than 25 leading roles with many other prestigious companies, including Covent Garden (among his roles there have been Alfredo/ La traviata opposite Renée Fleming and Gabriele/ Simon Bocccanegra , both released on DVD), the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Berlin State Opera, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, the Vienna State Opera, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the Salzburg Festival. The Grammy nominee made his Hollywood debut in the greatly acclaimed 2013 feature film The Immigrant , portraying legendary tenor Enrico Caruso. QUINN KELSEY | MILLER Previously at Lyric: 17 roles since 2003/04, most recently title role/ Rigoletto (2017/18); Enrico Ashton/ Lucia di Lammermoor (2016/17); Count di Luna/ Il trovatore (2014/15). The Hawaiian baritone, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus and 2015 winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Beverly Sills Award, is one of today’s few true Verdi baritones. He makes his long-awaited role debut as Miller after triumphs as Rigoletto (San Francisco, Toronto, London, new productions in Zurich, Oslo, Santa Fe, and Paris), Germont/ La traviata (recent new Met production, Covent Garden debut), Falstaff (Saito Kinen Festival – in the same work, he also recently debuted as Ford in Dallas), Ezio/ Attila (San Francisco), Paolo/ Simon Boccanegra (Rome), Amonasro/ Aida (Lyric, Met, Bregenz, San Francisco), Count di Luna/ Il trovatore (Dresden, San Francisco), and Montfort/ Les vêpres siciliennes (new Frankfurt production). Kelsey’s operatic repertoire additionally encompasses Sancho/ Don Quichotte (Toronto), Zurga/ The Pearl Fishers (London), Athanaël/ Thaïs (Edinburgh), and the Forester/ The Cunning Little Vixen (Japan, Florence). He has presented recitals at Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and London’s Wigmore Hall, and has performed Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the San Francisco Symphony (CD, Grammy winner). CHRISTIAN VAN HORN | WALTER Previously at Lyric: 16 roles since 2004/05, most recently Méphistophélès/ Faust (2017/18); Escamillo/ Carmen , Narbal/ Les Troyens (both 2016/17). The American bass-baritone, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus and winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, was acclaimed at the Metropolitan Opera last season for his role debut as Boito’s Mefistofele, and as Colline/ La bohème and Publio/ La clemenza di Tito . He also reprised Narbal/ Les Troyens (Paris) and Escamillo/ Carmen (Munich), and returned to San Francisco Opera as Zoroastro/ Orlando (his 15th SFO role). The 2019/20 season brings Van Horn to the Met ( Wozzeck , La Cenerentola ) and SFO ( Ernani, Billy Budd ). His diverse repertoire also encompasses Mozart’s Figaro (Stuttgart), the Four Villains/ Les contes d’Hoffmann (SFO), Gessler/ Guillaume Tell (Amsterdam), Zaccaria/ Nabucco (Seattle), and Banco/ Macbeth (Geneva). Successes in contemporary opera include Thomas Adès’s The Exterminating Angel (Met), Marco Tutino’s La Ciociara (SFO), Tan Dun’s Tea (Santa Fe), David Carlson’s Anna Karenina (Miami, St. Louis), and Joseph Summer’s The Tempest (Boston). Concert engagements include the major orchestras of Berlin, Cleveland, Chicago, New York, and San Francisco. Christian Van Horn’s appearance is generously sponsored by Lois B. Siegel . ˇ ˇ