Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 9 - Proximity

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 originated in its world premiere at the LA Opera. He also debuted with the New York Philharmonic in Handel’s Messiah and at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Barrie Kosky’s production of Agrippina in the role of Nerone. Other recent highlights include reprising his signature role of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight with Utah Opera and The Dallas Opera. Holiday toured with Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, sang the Sorceress in Kosky’s production of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with LA Opera, and appeared in the world premiere of Daniel Bernard Roumain’s We Shall Not Be Moved with Opera Philadelphia and Dutch National Opera. He sang the title role in Xerxes at the Glimmerglass Festival and Caesar in Handel’s Giulio Cesare in Egitto at Wolf Trap Opera. LUCIA LUCAS | B | FOUR PORTRAITS Lyric debut The baritone recently made her role debut as Wotan in Die Walküre with Theater Magdeburg, and debuted in the title role in Don Giovanni with Tulsa Opera. This season she returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Gretch in the new production of Fedora , as well as to English National Opera for Tosca in the role of Sacristan. She continues to tour with the Ragazze Quartet as the solo lead artist in the chamber opera The World’s Wife . Last season, Lucas made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Angelotti in Tosca and performed the role of Hannah Before in As One with Atlanta Opera. In addition, she sang Entwurf einem Rheinlandschaft with Monheim Musikfestival and Aria di Potenza , an unconventional synthesis of opera, fashion, and politics which premiered with Kunstfest Weimar. In the 2020/21 season, Lucas lmed performances as Satan in Martin ˚u’s Les larmes du couteau with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, as well as Die Neuen Todsünden ( The New Deadly Sins ) with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and appeared as the title role of Rigoletto with Theater Magdeburg. Lucas made her debut with English National Opera as Public Opinion in a new production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld , performed the baritone soloist in Cage’s Europeras 1 & 2 with Wuppertal Oper, and made an appearance on Houston Grand Opera’s serial web opera entitled Star Cross’d . Operatic engagements have also included Hagen in the world premiere of Surrogate/Götterdämmerung , Monterone in Rigoletto , Tchelio in Love of Three Oranges , Komtur in Don Giovanni , and the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann , all with Oper Wuppertal; Sharpless in Madama Butter y with Lyric Opera of Dublin; and Escamillo in Carmen with Staatstheater Karlsruhe. WHITNEY MORRISON | YASMINE MILLER | THE WALKERS Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2017/18, most recently Billie/ Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22) and Sister Rose/ Dead Man Walking (2019/20). The soprano, a Chicago native and a Ryan Opera Center alumna, received a 2023 Grammy nomination for Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s recording of X , The Life and Times of Malcolm X , in which she sang the role of Louise/Betty. In 2022, she made her debut with Detroit Opera in the same role and reprised it with Opera Omaha and Odyssey Opera, before going on to record it with BMOP. This season also includes performances with Chicago Opera Theater as Lady Billows in the winter production of Albert Herring . Morrison recently debuted at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera in the world premiere of Marina Abramovic’s 7 Deaths of Maria Callas as Floria Tosca. At Lyric in 2018/19, she sang First Cretan Woman/ Idomeneo . Other recent highlights include the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series; Miss Pinkerton/ The Old Maid and the Thief at the Grant Park Music Festival; an appearance at the Rochester Institute of Technology’s celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy; a debut at Rochester’s Kodak Hall with the Eastman Wind Ensemble; and Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni with Chicago’s Floating Opera Company. A graduate of Alabama’s Oakwood University, Morrison completed her training at the Eastman School of Music (master’s degree), Germany’s Neil Semer Vocal Institute, and Italy’s Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto. Competition successes include top prizes in the National Classical Singer University Competition, the R. Nathaniel Dett Club NANM Scholarship Competition, and the Musicians Club of Women Competition. KEARSTIN PIPER BROWN | CHIEF’S DAUGHTER #1 | THE WALKERS Lyric debut This season the soprano sings Wendy Torrance in The Shining by Paul Moravec, rst with Opera Parallèle and subsequently with Atlanta Opera. Last season she resumed performances in the lead role of Esther in Ricky Ian Gordon’s opera Intimate Apparel with Lincoln Center Theater (as part of the joint Metropolitan Opera’s New Works Program), for which she won several awards, including the World Theater Award for “Outstanding Debut Performance in an Off- Broadway Production.” Other recent highlights include Musetta and Bess, both with New Orleans Opera, Dorothy Jean Hamer in Chandler Carter’s This Little Light of Mine with Santa Fe Opera, and Clara in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life with San Francisco Opera, as well as performances with the Rochester Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony, the National Philharmonic, Steven Blier’s New York Festival of Song, the Berkshire Opera Festival, and the Cecilia Chorus of New York at Carnegie Hall. Next season, she will make her debut with Florida Grand Opera as Nedda, return to perform with the Rochester Philharmonic and the Atlanta Symphony, and make her debut with the Oregon Symphony. ZOIE REAMS | CHIEF’S DAUGHTER #2 | THE WALKERS SIBYL | NIGHT Previously at Lyric: Ragonde/ Le Comte Ory (2022/23) and Flora Bervoix/ La traviata (2018/19). Recent engagements for the American mezzo-soprano include Mandane/ Idaspe at Quantum Theatre, Beggar Woman/ Sweeney