Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 2 The Elixir of Love

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 25 AILYN PÉREZ | ADINA Previously at Lyric: Nedda/ Pagliacci lm (2020/21), Marguerite/ Faust (2017/18). The American soprano, in demand at the world’s leading opera houses and cultural capitals, returned to Lyric in 2020/21 as Nedda in a special streamed performance of Pagliacci . She won the 2012 Richard Tucker Award, becoming the first Hispanic recipient in the award’s history. Notable engagements of the 2021/22 season include the title role/ Tosca (San Francisco), Mimì/ La bohème (Munich), Tatiana/ Eugene Onegin (Metropolitan Opera), and Verdi’s Requiem in a Met Opera concert commemorating the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Career highlights include Violetta at La Scala and Covent Garden (where she returned as Manon and Liù); Thaïs, Mimì, Musetta, and Juliette (Metropolitan Opera); Adina (Munich, Berlin, Vienna, Washington); Nedda (Amsterdam); Antonia/ Les contes d’Hoffmann (Paris); Desdemona (Houston); Mimì (Bolshoi); and Alice Ford (Glyndebourne). She has performed Verdi’s Requiem with Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain, Mozart’s Requiem with Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra, and Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 with the Essen Philharmoniker. She can be heard in her debut album, Poème d’un jour , and in a new digital album, Mi Corazón . CHARLES CASTRONOVO | NEMORINO Previously at Lyric: Lensky/ Eugene Onegin (2016/17), Tamino/ The Magic Flute (2011/12). Acclaimed internationally as one of the nest lyric tenors of his generation, Charles Castronovo has appeared at many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Opéra National de Paris; London’s Royal Opera House; Teatro Real Madrid; Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie; Gran Teatre del Liceu; San Francisco Opera; and the Berlin, Bavarian, and Vienna state operas. Recent engagements include Werther in Zürich; Carlo/ I masnadieri and Admète/ Alceste in Munich; Alfredo/ La traviata in London, Munich and Vienna; Rodolfo/ La bohème in London; Gabriele Adorno/ Simon Boccanegra (DVD) in Salzburg; and Ruggero/ La rondine in Berlin. During the 2020/21 season, he sang Faust/ Me stofele at Dutch National Opera, and in the summer of 2021, made his role and house debut as Rodolfo/ Luisa Miller at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and returned to Salzburg as Faust/ La damnation de Faust . Born in New York and raised in California, the tenor began his career as a resident artist at LA Opera. He was then invited to join the Met’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and made his house debut there in the fall of 1999 as Beppe in the opening-night performance of Pagliacci . JOSHUA HOPKINS | BELCORE Previously at Lyric: Three roles since 2014/15, most recently Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte (2017/18), Mercutio/ Romeo and Juliet (2015/16). Internationally recognized as one of the nest singer-actors of his generation, the Canadian baritone recently sang Harlequin/ Ariadne auf Naxos at the Edinburgh International Festival and will portray Orpheus in the Metropolitan Opera debut of Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice in November. In concert, he premiered Songs for Murdered Sisters , a collaboration between composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, personally conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam. The piece debuted in a lm rendition directed by James Niebuhr and presented by Houston Grand Opera with Heggie at the piano. Recent career highlights include Harry Bailey/Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s It’s a Wonderful Life (San Francisco Opera debut), his rst Malatesta/ Don Pasquale (Pittsburgh Opera), Billy Budd (Central City Opera), and Count Almaviva/ The Marriage of Figaro (Glyndebourne Festival Opera). His portrayal of Athanaël/ Thaïs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis conducting, was recently released on recording. KYLE KETELSEN | DULCAMARA Previously at Lyric: Seven roles since 2004/05, most recently King of Scotland/ Ariodante (2018/19), Leporello/ Don Giovanni (2014/15). The renowned American bass-baritone triumphed during the 2020/21 season in role debuts as Kaspar/ Der Freischütz (Bavarian State Opera, new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov) and Adahm/Rudi Stephan’s Die ersten Menschen (Dutch National Opera). This past spring, Ketelsen sang in Lyric’s “Celebrating Sir Andrew Davis, from Mozart to Stravinsky,” a special virtual concert, and in the 2021/22 season, appears in the title role/ Don Giovanni with the Vienna State Opera and as Golaud/ Pelléas et Mélisande at Seville’s Teatro de la Maestranza. Ketelsen has scored successes during recent seasons in roles including Escamillo/ Carmen and Golaud (both at the Metropolitan Opera, the former also at San Francisco Opera), Méphistophélès/ La damnation de Faus t (with French orchestra Les Siècles), Henry VIII/ Anna Bolena (Toronto), and Nick Shadow/ The Rake’s Progress (Amsterdam). He has collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Pierre Boulez and Riccardo Muti. Artist pro les