Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 9 The Queen of Spades

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 24 RICHARD JONES | ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Four productions since 2000|01, most recently Ariodante , La bohème (both 2018|19). The British director debuted at London’s Royal Opera directing the acclaimed 1994 Ring cycle. He has returned for eight productions, most recently Katya Kabanova . Among his 11 opera productions this season are L’enfant et les sortilèges (Paris), Ariodante (Valencia), and Jephtha (Berlin). Other major productions have included Hansel and Gretel (Welsh National Opera, Lyric, Metropolitan Opera); The Trojans (English National Opera); Falstaff , Macbeth , and Flight (Glyndebourne); Pelléas et Mélisande and Lohengrin (Munich); Peter Grimes (La Scala); and La bohème (Bregenz). Jones’s work in theater includes The Hairy Ape (Old Vic and New York – nominated for six Drama Desk Awards); The Trial , Public Enemy , The Government Inspector , Annie Get Your Gun , and The Good Soul of Szechuan (all for the Young Vic); and productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, London’s West End, and Broadway. A Tony nominee, Jones is the winner of five Olivier Awards. He was appointed a CBE in 2015. BENJAMIN DAVIS | REVIVAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Ariodante (Revival director, 2018|19). The British director began his career as a staff director at Welsh National Opera from 2001 to 2011. Among his productions are Il trittico (Opera Zuid in the Netherlands), Così fan tutte (WNO), La rondine and Sir John in Love (Royal Conservatoire of Scotland), and Sir George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (two European tours with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, also Beijing Music Festival). He has directed revivals of Ariodante (Dutch National Opera, Canadian Opera Company), Gianni Schicchi (London’s Royal Opera), Khovanshchina , Wozzeck , Tosca , The Magic Flute (WNO), Hansel and Gretel (WNO, Portland Opera, Bavarian State Opera), The Queen of Spades (WNO, Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera), and Carmen (Scottish Opera). He was associate director for Luigi Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore (Salzburg Festival) and the world premieres of Written On Skin (Aix-en-Provence Festival) and Manfred Trojahn’s Orest (DNO). Davis is a member of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Opera and Drama at Cardiff University. JOHN MACFARLANE | SET (OTHER THAN FRONT CLOTHS) AND COSTUME DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Three productions since 2001|02, most recently Elektra (2018|19, 2012|13); Rusalka (2013|14). This season the Scottish designer’s work is being seen in four productions at the Metropolitan Opera, among them the company premiere of Handel’s Agrippina . Other opera credits internationally include The Queen of Spades (Welsh National Opera), Tosca (Met), Benvenuto Cellini (Geneva), Hansel and Gretel (WNO, Lyric, Met), War and Peace and La clemenza di Tito (Paris), Boris Godunov (Amsterdam), Les Troyens (English National Opera), Idomeneo (Vienna), and Maria Stuarda (Met). Since his 1985 Royal Ballet debut he has returned regularly to the company, as well as to the Royal Opera, where his work was seen most recently in The Magic Flute and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk . His many other designs for dance include The Nutcracker , Le baiser de la fée , and Cinderella for Birmingham Royal Ballet. Macfarlane’s painting and printmaking are widely exhibited across the U.K. and Europe. He was created a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2006. John Macfarlane is supported by the Richard P. and Susan Kiphart Costume Designer Endowed Chair . JENNIFER TIPTON | ORIGINAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Eight productions since 1988|89, most recently Elektra (2018|19, 2012|13); Il trovatore (2018|19, 2014|15, 2006|07). The American lighting designer is well known for her work in theater, dance, and opera. Later this season her lighting will be seen at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu ( La clemenza di Tito ), at the Metropolitan Opera ( Maria Stuarda ), and at Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza ( La traviata ). Tipton’s most recent productions include Romeo and Juliet (La Scala), David Lang’s The Loser (LA Opera), The Magic Flute (Tokyo’s New National Theatre), The Age of Anxiety (Royal Ballet), and Harold Pinter’s The Room (Wooster Group). Tipton teaches lighting at the Yale School of Drama. She is a past recipient of the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, the Jerome Robbins Prize, and the Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture in New York City. In 2008 she was made a United States Artists “Gracie” Fellow and a MacArthur Fellow. In December 2019 she was named the 2019/20 Cage Cunningham Fellow by the Baryshnikov Arts Center. CHRIS MARAVICH | REVIVAL LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Eleven productions since 2014|15, most recently Madama Butterfly (2019|20); Idomeneo (2018|19). Lyric’s lighting director served in the same position from 2006 to 2012 at San Francisco Opera, where he created lighting for many productions including The Gospel of Mary Magdalene , Così fan tutte , Turandot , Cyrano de Bergerac , Il trittico , Tosca , Simon Boccanegra , Don Giovanni , Nixon in China , and Attila . He has collaborated on the lighting designs for Wozzeck (Finnish National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève), Doktor Faust at Staatsoper Stuttgart, Tannhäuser for the Greek National Opera, and La fanciulla del West , The Makropulos Case , The Daughter of the Regiment , Il trovatore , Samson et Dalila , and Macbeth for San Francisco Opera. Maravich has also designed lighting for LA Opera, Opera Colorado, San Diego Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Florida Grand Opera, Madison Opera, Cal Performances, and Opera San José. He also currently serves as lighting supervisor for The Joffrey Ballet. Chris Maravich is supported by the Mary-Louise and James S. Aagard Lighting Director Endowed Chair .