Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 1 Macbeth

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 25 DENIS VÉLEZ | THIRD APPARITION Lyric debut The soprano, a second-year Ryan Opera Center member from Puebla, Mexico, sang in “Sunday in the Park with Lyric’s Rising Stars,” and will be heard later this season as Giannetta/ The Elixir of Love and Papagena/ The Magic Flute . She was a national winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2020 Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. In Mexico’s most important platform for rising talent, the National Singing Contest Carlo Morelli, her performance earned her the First Prize, the French Opera award, and the Francisco Araiza Special award. Her repertoire includes the Countess and Susanna/ The Marriage of Figaro , Bastienne/ Bastien und Bastienne , Fiordiligi/ Così fan tutte , Adina/ The Elixir of Love , and Mimì/ La bohème . Last spring she sang in the Harris Theater’s “Beyond the Aria” series alongside Joyce DiDonato, and appeared in Lyric’s 2020/21 virtual programs “Pasión Latina,” “Sole e Amore,” “Magical Music Around the World,” and “Rising Stars in Concert.” Denis Vélez is sponsored by the C.G.Pinnell Family. ENRIQUE MAZZOLA | CONDUCTOR Previously at Lyric: Three operas since 2016/17, most recently Luisa Miller (2019/20), I puritani (2017/18). The Italian conductor, Lyric’s Music Director, is renowned as an expert interpreter and champion of bel canto opera and a specialist in French repertoire and early Verdi. He is Principal Guest Conductor at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and served as Artistic and Music Director of the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France (2012–2019). During the 2020/21 season, Mazzola appeared in Lyric’s virtual programs “Sole e Amore,” “The Sonata Sessions,” “ Attila : Highlights in Concert,” and “ Attila : Breaking Down the Score,” and returned to London in March for much- acclaimed concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Symphonic guest work has also included the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Philharmonia Orchestra, Vienna Symphony, London Philharmonic, and Brussels Philharmonic. Mazzola has conducted bel canto works for Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, and the major houses of Florence, Strasbourg, Berlin, Zurich, Moscow, and Tokyo, in addition to a historic Meyerbeer cycle for Deutsche Oper Berlin. Past major European festivals have included Glyndebourne (including DVD releases of The Barber of Seville and Poliuto ), new productions in 2019 for Bregenz ( Rigoletto ) and Salzburg ( Orphée aux Enfers ), Pesaro (Rossini Opera Festival), Venice, and Aix-en-Provence. Enrique Mazzola is the John D.and Alexandra C. Nichols Endowed Chair. SIR DAVID McVICAR | DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Nine productions since 2001/02, most recently Elektra (2018/19, 2012/13), Il trovatore (2018/19, 2014/15, 2006/07). The renowned Scottish director’s productions are seen annually in major houses worldwide, with recent highlights including new productions of Adriana Lecouvreur , Roberto Devereux (both at the Metropolitan Opera, the latter a company premiere), Médée (Geneva’s Grand Théâtre), and I masnadieri (La Scala). McVicar has created nine new productions for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and seven for the Met, where he will direct a new Don Carlos this season. He has also directed at La Scala ( Les Troyens ), Opera Australia ( Don Giovanni , The Marriage of Figaro ), the Vienna Staatsoper ( Tristan und Isolde , Falstaff ), English National Opera, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Paris’s Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, the Salzburg Festival, the Mariinsky Theatre, and many other major companies. Among his awards is the 2011 Grand Prix de la Musique du Syndicat de la Critique. In 2012 he received a knighthood and was made a Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres. JOHN MACFARLANE | SET DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Four productions since 2001/02, most recently The Queen of Spades (2019/20); Elektra (2018/19, 2012/13). Among the Scottish designer’s extensive opera credits internationally are Tosca (Metropolitan Opera), Benvenuto Cellini (Geneva), Hansel and Gretel (Welsh National Opera, Met), The Queen of Spades (WNO), War and Peace and La clemenza di Tito (Paris), Agrippina (Brussels), Boris Godunov (Amsterdam), Euryanthe (Glyndebourne), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cologne), Les Troyens (English National Opera), Don Giovanni (Brussels, San Francisco), Idomeneo (Vienna), and Maria Stuarda (Met). Macfarlane made his Royal Ballet debut in 1985 with Giselle . He has since returned regularly to the Royal Opera House, designing Glen Tetley’s La Ronde and Liam Scarlett’s Asphodel Meadow s, Sweet Violets , The Age of Anxiet y, Frankenstein , and Swan Lake for the Royal Ballet and Erwartung/Bluebeard’s Castle , Peter Grimes , The Magic Flute , Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk , Gianni Schicchi , and L’heure espagnole for the Royal Opera. His many other ballet designs 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.