Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 4 Dead Man Walking

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 12 Discovery. That’s an essential part of what opera is all about. Much as we love the familiar melodies and stories of our favorite classic operas, there’s a special thrill in hearing and seeing something that’s either new to us or completely new. Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s Dead Man Walking comes to Lyric this month, having profoundly moved audiences in 60+ productions on five continents over the past two decades. “It is deeply, deeply, deeply human,” says Susan Graham, who created the central role of Sister Helen Prejean and now portrays the death-row inmate’s mother. “It touches something in everybody.” The music in this opera, she assures us, “is gorgeous, very melodic, full of every emotion from turbulence to lyricism. It’s about the world we live in now, about people working through pain.” The midwest premiere next June of the new chamber opera Blue , by Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson, addresses another facet of American life: ongoing tensions and confrontations between law enforcement and young black men. Co-commissioned by Lyric, Glimmerglass Festival (world premiere, August), and Washington National Opera, Blue concerns an African American family headed by a police officer and his wife, whose only child is killed by a white police officer. A New York Times review called it “powerful – as well as sadly timely. Drawing on her deep experience in musical theater, her keen ear for elements of contemporary classical music and her abundant imagination, Ms. Tesori has written a strong yet subtle score that avoids the obvious and exudes a personal voice. Mr. Thompson, who also directed the production, has written one of the most elegant librettos I’ve heard in a long time.” Lyric will present Blue in collaboration with Chicago Shakespeare Theater at The Yard on Navy Pier. “This is a very exciting time for contemporary opera,” says Cayenne Harris, vice president, Lyric Unlimited - Learning & Creative Engagement. “Important, new stories are being told on opera stages across the country, stories that resonate deeply with people from many backgrounds. Lyric is proud to present these works in Chicago, both on and off the mainstage. We’re offering our audiences and broader communities new ways to connect with the art form.” Harris notes that “there’s a buzz in the air that begins before the performances of these new works. Opera aficionados are there alongside first-timers, some of whom have come because the subject matter speaks to their cultural or individual experience and they are hungry to see that represented onstage. The operas are in English (with projected texts) and the theaters we’re in are typically more intimate, so there’s an immediacy to the experience. Contemporary operas tend to be shorter than classic ones, so when audiences want to stay to talk about what they’ve just experienced – and they seem compelled to do just that – it feels like a natural extension of the experience. There’s a connection to the stories and characters that feels very personal, and audiences By Magda Krance Pepe Martínez and Leonard Foglia’s El Pasado Nunca Se Termina (world premiere, 2014/15) is one of two mariachi operas presented at Lyric. Todd Rosenberg Todd Rosenberg The thrill of the new Lyric’s latest world premiere, Jimmy López’s Bel Canto , premiered during the 2015/16 season and was subsequently telecast on PBS. Among the chamber operas presented by Lyric in recent seasons is Daniel Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird, seen at the Harris Theater.