Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 8 - Carmen

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 32 ROBERT PERDZIOLA | COSTUME DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Four productions since 1998/99, most recently Così fan tutte (2017/18) and Capriccio (2014/15). In recent seasons the American designer’s work has been seen in a diverse range of repertoire incuding Giulio Cesare (Fort Worth Opera), The Marriage of Figaro (Garsington Opera), Beatrice and Benedict (Opera Boston), Falstaff (Performing Arts Centre, Matsumoto), and Tosca (Cincinnati Opera). At Lyric, he designed for Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12, 1998/99, also revivals at San Francisco Opera and Houston Grand Opera) and Carmen (2010/11, 2005/06, 1999/2000), as well as the company’s 2006/07 revival of Così fan tutte (also seen at San Francisco Opera and the Opéra de Monte-Carlo). Perdziola has designed for the Metropolitan Opera ( Il pirata ), Opera Theatre of Saint Louis ( Il re pastore , Faust ), Santa Fe Opera ( Arabella ), Garsington Opera ( Così fan tutte ), Hannover’s Niedersächsische Staatstheater ( Faust ), and Opera Australia ( Arabella , winner of ve Helpmann Awards). His designs for ballet include Giselle (Bolshoi Theatre), Harlequinade (American Ballet Theatre, Australian Ballet), and The Nutcracker (Boston Ballet). Robert Perdziola is supported by the Richard P. and Susan Kiphart Endowed Chair. CHRIS MARAVICH | LIGHTING DESIGNER Lyric’s lighting director served in the same position from 2006 to 2012 at San Francisco Opera, where he created lighting for many productions including The Gospel of Mary Magdalene , Così fan tutte , Turandot , Cyrano de Bergerac , Il trittico , Tosca , Simon Boccanegra , Don Giovanni , Nixon in China , and Attila . He has collaborated on the lighting designs for Wozzeck (Finnish National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève), Doktor Faust at Staatsoper Stuttgart, Tannhäuser for Greek National Opera, and La fanciulla del West , The Makropulos Case , The Daughter of the Regiment , Il trovatore , Samson et Dalila , and Macbeth for San Francisco Opera. Maravich has also designed lighting for LA Opera, Opera Colorado, San Diego Opera, Opera Santa Barbara, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Florida Grand Opera, Madison Opera, Cal Performances, and Opera San José. He currently serves as lighting supervisor for The Joffrey Ballet. Chris Maravich is supported by The Mary-Louise and James S.Aagaard Lighting Director Endowed Chair . MICHAEL BLACK | CHORUS MASTER The Australian chorus master is in his 11th season at Lyric, having held this position at Opera Australia in Sydney from 2001 to 2013. Black has served in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, the Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Other activities include preparing The Damnation of Faust chorus and Haydn’s Creation at the Grant Park Music Festival, where he has worked for two seasons. He has served as chorus master for close to 140 different operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, and for many HD productions in movie theaters and on television. Michael Black is supported by The Howard A.Stotler Chorus Master Endowed Chair. JOSEPHINE LEE | CHILDREN’S CHORUS MASTER Previously at Lyric: 15 productions since 2000/01, most recently Hansel and Gretel (2022/23) and Tosca (2021/22). As the president and artistic director of Uniting Voices Chicago (UVC, formerly the Chicago Children’s Choir), Josephine Lee has revolutionized youth music education, infusing their experience with cutting-edge performances of diverse repertoire, ongoing partnerships with leading cultural institutions such as Lyric, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and Ravinia Festival, and extensive national and international tours. For her work on the documentary Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008), Lee was honored with an Emmy Award. Among Lee’s recent projects are two world premiere theatrical pieces ( Long Way Home with the Q Brothers Collective and Sita Ram with David Kersnar of Lookingglass Theatre), several collaborations with Chance the Rapper (including 2016’s Grammy Award-winning project, Coloring Book ), and an original piano and cello composition, Ascension , with choreographer Frank Chaves for Ballet Chicago in 2017. Lee earned a Grammy Award nomination as a soloist in the world premiere of Ted Hearne’s Place at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Next Wave Festival (2018). In 2019, she conducted Lisa Fischer and members of the National Philharmonic at Strathmore. Lee founded Vocality in 2015, a festival chorus comprising young vocal artists from a wide array of communities in the city of Chicago. Among her current projects is a new theatrical work by David Kersnar, J. Nicole Brooks, and UVC composer-in-residence Mitchell Owens III. STEPHANIE MARTINEZ | CHOREOGRAPHER Lyric Opera Choreographer Debut The Chicago-based choreographer has created for Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Milwaukee Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Bruce Wood Dance, Nashville Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, BalletX, Canada’s Alberta Ballet as well as for Chicago Shakespeare and the National Choreographers Initiative, among others. She has created more than 60 ballets for companies and collegiate programs across the country. In 2010, Martinez assisted Broadway legend Ann Reinking in setting the Fosse Trilogy , and in 2015 was awarded Joffrey Ballet’s “Winning