Lyric Opera 2021-2022 Issue 3 The Magic Flute

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 26 ELYSSA HALL | THIRD GENIE Lyric debut Elyssa Hall is currently in eighth grade studying at Churchville Middle School in Elmhurst. Most recently, she performed as part of the Lullaby League in the Paramount Theater’s acclaimed 2018/19 production of The Wizard of Oz . Hall also has been a member of the Spirito Singers and Elmhurst Children’s Theatre ensemble for three years. When not performing, she enjoys creative writing, dancing, and sewing. KAREN KAMENSEK | CONDUCTOR Lyric debut The acclaimed conductor, a Chicago native, made her Metropolitan Opera debut during the 2019/20 season leading Philip Glass’s Akhnaten —a production that, under her direction, recently won the coveted Olivier Award for its presentation at London’s English National Opera. Among the performances for which Kamensek was scheduled in 2020/21 were appearances with the Helsingborg Symphony Orchestra (Sweden), the Tyrolean Symphony Orchestra (Austria), and the Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier Occitanie (France). Recent operatic highlights include her San Francisco Opera debut in a new production of Floyd’s Susannah , the Royal Swedish Opera’s production of Victoria Borisova-Ollas’s Dracula , and La bohème with Göteborg Opera. On the concert podium, highlights include Kamensek’s debut with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic conducting music by Thea Musgrave; a live-to-film performance of Miloš Forman’s Oscar-winning Amadeus , marking her Oslo Philharmonic debut; and Philip Glass/Ravi Shankar’s Passages , alongside Britten’s Sinfonia , performed at Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms as well as with the Paris Philharmonic. SUZANNE ANDRADE | ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut Suzanne Andrade is the co-founder and co- artistic director (with Paul Barritt) of London- based theater company 1927. Its trademark style integrates performance, music, and animation to create groundbreaking art. For 1927, she has written and directed the multi-award-winning shows Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea , The Animals and Children Took to the Streets , Golem, and Roots . Since 2007, the company has toured across five continents to 38 countries. Andrade made her operatic debut with The Magic Flute for Komische Oper Berlin, which she co-conceived and co-directed, and it has been licensed to opera houses around the world. In 2017, she co-created productions of Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortilèges at the Komische Oper, and co- directed with 1927 collaborator Esme Appleton. One year prior, Andrade was featured in the Stage 100’s list of the most influential people in United Kingdom theater. BARRIE KOSKY | ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut The Australian director is Intendant and Chefregisseur of the Komische Oper Berlin. His many highlights there include The Magic Flute , which has been seen by more than 700,000 people. Among Kosky’s many awards include the Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production and the 2016 Royal Philharmonic Society Opera and Music Theatre Award. In 2016 he was named Director of the Year by Opernwelt magazine. Kosky has directed for the Glyndebourne and Bayreuth festivals, as well as the major houses of London, Munich, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Zürich, Madrid, Barcelona, Vienna, and numerous German theaters. Recent highlights among new productions include Prince Igor (Opéra national de Paris) and Salome (Oper Frankfurt). Born in Melbourne, Kosky was artistic director of Gilgul Theatre Company from 1990–1997, artistic director of the 1996 Adelaide Festival, and from 2001–2005 was co-artistic director of the Vienna Schauspielhaus. TOBIAS RIBITZKI | REVIVAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut After his studies in theater and media science in Bochum, Germany, the director worked as assistant and performance director at the Landestheater Linz, Hannover State Opera, and Komische Oper Berlin. In Linz, among other productions, he directed the world premiere of the opera Picknick im Felde by Constantinos Stylianou. Ribitzki has received the prestigious German Theatre Prize Der Faust for his direction of the world-premiere children’s opera Freunde! by Peter Androsch with Junge Oper Hannover. He directed Poulenc’s La voix humaine at the Cumberlandsche Galerie Hannover, and Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito and Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore with Hannover State Opera. More recently, Ribitzki directed the world premiere of Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten by Attila Kadri Sendil at the Komische Oper Berlin. He has previously staged this production of The Magic Flute in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Madrid, Helsinki, Warsaw, and Philadelphia.