Lyric Opera 2019-2020 Issue 9 The Queen of Spades

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 25 MICHAEL BLACK | CHORUS MASTER The Australian chorus master held this position in Sydney at Opera Australia from 2001 to 2013. Black has served in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Other activities include preparing the Damnation of Faust chorus at the Grant Park Music Festival, where he has worked for two seasons. As one of Australia’s most prominent vocal accompanists, Black has regularly performed for broadcasts and recordings. He has served as chorus master on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. Michael Black is the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Master Endowed Chair . JOSEPHINE LEE | CHILDREN’S CHORUS MASTER Previously at Lyric: 12 productions since 2000|01, most recently Dead Man Walking (2019|20); La bohème (2018|19). The president and artistic director of Chicago Children’s Choir has revolutionized youth choral music, encompassing cutting-edge performances of diverse repertoire; ongoing partnerships with Lyric, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Ravinia; and extensive national and international tours. Among Lee’s recent projects have been two world premieres ( Long Way Home with the Q Brothers Collective, Sita Ram with David Kersnar of Lookingglass Theatre), and a collaboration with Chance the Rapper ( Coloring Book ). In 2019 she made a conducting debut with members of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore. In 2015 Lee founded a new young-people’s chorus, Vocality, heard with the CSO at Ravinia ( Porgy and Bess , Bernstein’s Mass ). Future engagements include a new theatrical work by David Kersnar, J. Nicole Brooks, and CCC composer-in-residence Mitchell Owens III, to premiere in 2020. An experienced singer herself, Lee appeared in the critically praised 2018 world premiere of Ted Hearne’s Place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival. LINDA DOBELL | ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHER Previously at Lyric: Hansel and Gretel (2012|13, 2001|02). The late British actress/choreographer began her career in her teens, performing in the original Rocky Horror Show . Onstage she was seen with many major companies, including Theatre Royal Stratford East, the National Theatre, the Young Vic, and the Royal Court Theatre. She made her Royal Opera debut in 1993 with The Magic Flute , returning for Eugene Onegin and Richard Jones’s production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk . Other productions with Jones included The Queen of Spades (Welsh National Opera, Oslo, Brussels, Houston), Lulu and From Morning to Midnight (English National Opera), Wozzeck (WNO, Berlin), Hansel and Gretel (WNO, Metropolitan Opera, Munich), Macbeth and Falstaff (Glyndebourne), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Royal Shakespeare Company), and Tales from the Vienna Woods (National Theatre). Among other major choreography credits were Alice in Wonderland (Royal Shakespeare Company) and Così fan tutte , Peter Grimes , and The Magic Flute (Scottish Opera). ANJALI MEHRA | REVIVAL CHOREOGRAPHER Lyric debut Among the British choreographer’s varied credits are Judgment Day (Park Avenue Armory, New York), directed by Richard Jones; Oreste and La tragédie de Carmen , directed by Gerard Jones (Jette Parker Young Artist Programme, Royal Opera); I puritani , directed by Stephen Langridge (Grange Park Opera); Jakob Lenz , directed by Sam Brown (English National Opera); and L’Orfeo , directed by Daisy Evans (Silent Opera). Mehra was revival choreographer for Richard Jones’s productions of La fanciulla del West (Santa Fe), Macbeth (Lille, Glyndebourne), and Hansel and Gretel (Bavarian State Opera, Welsh National Opera), as well as Dick Whittington , directed by Brigid L’Armour (Watford Palace Theatre). She was associate choreographer for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Macbeth , directed by Paul Hart (Watermill Ensemble), The Nico Project (Melbourne Arts Festival), and La damnation de Faust (Glyndebourne). She had a 20-year performing career, which included guesting as a principal dancer with Matthew Bourne’s company New Adventures. SARAH HATTEN | WIGMASTER & MAKEUP DESIGNER Lyric’s wigmaster and makeup designer has worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines Metro Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre, as well as Columbus Opera, Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival, and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. She has also worked at the Glimmerglass Festival and the major opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha, Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and, in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the Geffen Playhouse. Sarah Hatten is the Marlys Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair .