Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 7 - Carmen

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 28 Lucia di Lammermoor . He sang the title role/ Don Giovanni at Opéra de Nice and Théâtre d’Antibes and gave a concert performance of Rubinstein’s The Demon (title role) at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall. Kymach was the First Prize winner of the prestigious BBC Cardiff Singer of the World in 2019 and graduated from the Bolshoi Young Artist Program, where he made his role debut as Don Carlos in Dargomyzhsky’s The Stone Guest in 2018. DENIS VÉLEZ | FRASQUITA Previously at Lyric: Eight roles since 2020/21, most recently Sandman & Dew Fairy/ Hansel and Gretel and Thibault/ Don Carlos (both 2022/23). The soprano, a third-year Ryan Opera Center member from Puebla, Mexico, sang Papagena in Lyric’s The Magic Flute (2021/22), and appeared in Sunday in the Park with Lyric in August 2022. 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. In spring 2021, she sang in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Joyce DiDonato, and previously 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. KATHERINE D E YOUNG | MERCÉDÈS Previously at Lyric: Three roles since 2020/21, most recently Giovanna/ Ernani (2022/23) and Second Lady/ The Magic Flute (2021/22). A native of Traverse City, Michigan, the third-year Ryan Opera Center mezzo-soprano appeared last fall in Sunday in the Park with Lyric Rising Stars . As a member of the 2019/20 Detroit Opera Studio, she was heard as the Sandman/ Hansel and Gretel , the Old Lady/ Candide , the Mother/ Amahl and the Night Visitors , and Mae/ The Grapes of Wrath . In 2018 and 2019 she participated in The Santa Fe Opera’s Apprentice Singer program. Competition successes include National Semi- Finalist in the 2020 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Finalist and Online Viewers’ Choice Award winner in Houston Grand Opera’s 31st Eleanor McCollum Competition, and participant in the internationally celebrated Neue Stimmen Competition in Gütersloh, Germany. Following studies at Michigan State University, DeYoung received a master’s degree in voice performance from the University of Houston, where she portrayed Isabella/ L’italiana in Algeri , Fidalma/ The Secret Marriage , Gertrude/ Romeo and Juliet , Elizabeth Proctor/ The Crucible , and Lady Sneerwell/Robert Nelson’s The School for Scandal (world premiere). Katherine DeYoung is sponsored by Lead Sponsors Dr. and Mrs. Mark F. Kozloff and co-sponsors Cynthia Vahlkamp & Robert Kenyon. RYAN CAPOZZO | REMENDADO Lyric debut The tenor, a rst-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, received a Master of Musical Arts degree from Yale School of Music, where he was awarded the Phyllis Curtin Career Entry Prize and was heard with the Yale Opera as Arcadio/Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas and Tamino/ The Magic Flute (partial role, Spring Opera Showcase). Previously, Capozzo earned Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees from the Purchase College Conservatory of Music. At Purchase Opera he was featured as Rinuccio/ Gianni Schicchi , Reverend Samuel Parris/Robert Ward’s The Crucible , Don Ottavio/ Don Giovann i, Nero/ L’incoronazione di Poppea , and Lysander/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream . The tenor sang Tamino at the Berlin Opera Academy, and was the 2022 Second Place winner in the Southeast Region of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Ryan Capozzo is sponsored by the H.Earl and Miriam U.Hoover Endowment Fund. LAUREANO QUANT | DANCAÏRE Previously at Lyric: Count of Lerma/ Don Carlos (2022/23). A rst-year Ensemble member of the Ryan Opera Center and native of Colombia, Quant’s repertoire includes Belcore/ The Elixir of Love , Guglielmo/ Così fan tutte , Figaro/Saverio Mercadante’s I due Figaro , Maguire/ Tobias Picker’s Emmeline , Zurga/ The Pearl Fishers , Vittorio and The Boarder/Nino Rota’s I due timidi , Demetrius/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and the Captain and Prince Ragotsky/ Candide . The baritone was awarded Second Place in both the Western (2022) and Southeastern (2020) Regions in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He has also won the Online Audience Award in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias (2020), First Prize in the Premio de Canto Ciudad de Bogotá (2018), and Second Prize in the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra’s National Voice Competition (2016). WM. CLAY THOMPSON | ZUNIGA Previously at Lyric: Second Courtier/ Le Comte Ory (2022/23). The American bass is a rst-year Ryan Opera Center member and a two-time District winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. He recently debuted at Arizona Opera (Zuniga/ Carmen ) and the Metropolitan Opera (Octet Singer/Brett Dean’s Hamlet ). Thompson is a former participant in the Santa Fe Opera and Wolf Trap Opera young- artist programs. From 2017 to 2019, he was a Resident Artist at Minnesota Opera, performing in operas of Mozart, Verdi, Massenet, Puccini, Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, and Joel Puckett ( The Fix , a world premiere). Among other companies, Thompson has been featured at the Château de Versailles Spectacles (Suleyman Pasha/ The Ghosts of Versailles ), The Glimmerglass Festival ( The Cunning Little Vixen , Silent Night , West Side Story , Noye’s Fludde , The Ghosts of Versailles ,