Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 5 - Le Comte Ory

17 | Lyric Opera of Chicago At the group’s most recent happy hour, there was a very special guest—a certain local Maestro. “Lyric’s music director Enrique Mazzola stopped by, and one of our previous LYP presidents was there. He walked in, immediately recognized her and their conversation kept going,” Roman says. “The happy hours are a great way of connecting the LYP board to Lyric and to the greater Chicago community.” Other events have featured intimate conversations with Ensemble members from the Ryan Opera Center, which is the bene ciary of all the group’s fundraising efforts. “We really enjoy it,” Michalak notes. “I think it’s a natural t. Ryan Opera Center artists are young professionals in the opera world, so we can draw parallels to their experiences. It kind of removes some of the mystique of, ‘Hey, this is a soon-to-be famous opera singer’ when they say, ‘I’ve got the same challenges as you do. I’ve got meetings all day and then I have to work.’” Michalak sees normalization of the art as a big part of LYP’s mission. “We are constantly working to change perceptions. Like, ‘Oh, you have to put on a tuxedo every time you go into the opera house,’ that sort of thing. When you take away some of that, really all of the pieces for great entertainment are there. Like, people enjoy big dramatic TV shows like The Game of Thrones —I mean, that’s an opera. We have people on the board who live for the Don Carlos and the Les Troyen s of the world. Personally, I prefer lighter. My favorite opera is The Barber of Seville . We welcome anybody who’s curious.” Fox + Harrison Fox + Harrison Jaclyn Simpson Photography