Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 4 Dead Man Walking

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 21 WHITNEY MORRISON | SISTER ROSE Previously at Lyric: Four roles since 2017/18, most recently Confidante/ Elektra , First Cretan Woman/ Idomeneo (both 2018/19). The soprano, a Chicago native and a Ryan Opera Center alumna, debuts at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera later this season as Floria Tosca/Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas (world premiere). Other credits include the Harris Theater’s “Beyond the Aria” series; Miss Pinkerton/ The Old Maid and the Thief at the Grant Park Music Festival; an appearance at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy; her debut at Rochester’s Kodak Hall with the Eastman Wind Ensemble; and Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni with Chicago’s Floating Opera Company. A graduate of Alabama’s Oakwood University, Morrison completed her training at the Eastman School of Music (master’s degree), Germany’s Neil Semer Vocal Institute (Germany), and Italy’s Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto. Competition successes include top prizes in the National Classical Singer University Competition, the R. Nathaniel Dett Club NANM Scholarship Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition. GORDON HAWKINS | GEORGE BENTON Previously at Lyric: Amonasro/ Aida (2011/12); Porgy/ Porgy and Bess (2008/09). Among the renowned American baritone’s many successes onstage have been Alberich/ Ring cycle (Deutsche Oper Berlin, San Francisco Opera), Telramund/ Lohengrin (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Alberich/ Siegfried and Kaspar/ Der Freischütz (Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza), the Villains/ Les contes d’Hoffmann (Tokyo), the title role/ Simon Boccanegra (New Zealand Festival), Amonasro/ Aida (Houston, Cincinnati), George/ Of Mice and Men (Houston), Porgy/ Porgy and Bess (Dallas, Seattle, Houston, Washington, Detroit, San Francisco), Thoas /Iphigénie en Tauride (Metropolitan Opera), and Renato/ Un ballo in maschera (New Orleans, Montreal), and more than 200 performances as Rigoletto to international acclaim. Hawkins has also appeared in Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony (Kennedy Center), Jake Heggie’s A Great Hope Fell (EOS Orchestra of New York, world premiere). Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (St. Louis Symphony), and concert selections from American musicals (Deutsche Welle WDR 4, Cologne); with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall; and with the major orchestras of Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Prague, and Vienna. CLAY HILLEY | FATHER GRENVILLE Lyric debut Among the American heroic tenor’s successes onstage in recent seasons have been the title role/Dvorák’s Dimitrij and Paul/ Die Tote Stadt at Bard Summerscape, the title role/ Idomeneo at Theater Würzburg, and the Landestheater in Salzburg, Canio/ Pagliacci at Virginia Opera, and Erik/ The Flying Dutchman at Austin Lyric Opera. Concert highlights include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at Ravinia with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Florestan/ Fidelio with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Menelaus/ Die ägyptische Helena with Odyssey Opera, and Strauss’s Feuersnot with the American Symphony Orchestra (Hilley’s Carnegie Hall debut). The Wagner Society of New York presented Hilley in recital, following their recognition of the tenor with the Robert Lauch Award. He is an alumnus of the University of Georgia, Georgia State University, the Manhattan School of Music, and the Opera Institute at Boston University. WAYNE TIGGES | OWEN HART Previously at Lyric: Nine roles since 2002/03, most recently Basilio/ The Barber of Seville , Achilla/ Giulio Cesare (both 2007/08). The bass-baritone, a Ryan Opera Center alumnus who previously portrayed Owen Hart in Washington, Atlanta, and Des Moines, has appeared throughout North America and internationally in a diverse repertoire. Among his other achievements in contemporary works are Sgt. Aaron Marcum/ An American Soldier (world premiere, St. Louis), Howie Albert/ Champion (Washington), Henry Isaacson/ Oscar (Philadelphia), Joe St. George/ Dolores Claiborne (world premiere, San Francisco), Gideon March/ Little Women (Omaha), Blitch/ Susannah (Milwaukee), Willy Wonka/ The Golden Ticket (European premiere, Wexford Festival), Roy Cohn/ Angels in America (New York City), and John Proctor/ The Crucible (Santa Barbara). Appearances in standard repertoire include Don Giovanni (Costa Mesa, Austin), Escamillo (Glyndebourne), Don Basilio/ The Barber of Seville (Detroit), Wagner’s Dutchman (Atlanta), and Baron Douphol/ La traviata (Los Angeles). Tigges has appeared with the Teatro Regio di Parma orchestra and the major orchestras of Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and Cleveland, among many others. TALISE TREVIGNE | KITTY HART Lyric debut The American soprano first attracted significant attention as Pip/Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick (Dallas world premiere, subsequently San Francisco, San Diego, Washington, PBS, DVD). Other roles she created are the title role/Judith Weir’s Armida (BBC), June Gibbons/Errollyn Wallen’s The Silent Twins (Almeida Opera), Ma/Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up (Omaha, New York), Beloved/Liza Lim’s The Navigator (Melbourne, subsequently Moscow and Paris), and Clara/Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life (Houston). Her diverse operatic repertoire also encompasses Euridice/ Orfeo ed Euridice (Caramoor Festival), Heroines/ Les contes d’Hoffmann (Lyon, Tel Aviv), Cio-Cio-San/ Madama Butterfly (Basel, Louisville, Raleigh), title role/ Iris (Bard Summerscape), and Bess/ Porgy and Bess (Glimmerglass, Cincinnati, UMS). Other successes include Nedda/ Pagliacci (Madison), Leila/ The Pearl Fishers (Raleigh), and Micaëla/ Carmen (San Diego, Honolulu). Major concert engagements include Strauss’s Four Last Songs and Tippett’s A Child of Our Time (City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - U.K., Dortmund, Hamburg). Trevigne won the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award for La traviata with Birmingham Opera (U.K.). ˇ