Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 9 - Proximity

33 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Theater’s Beyond the Aria series, in concert with North Carolina Opera as Clotilde/ Norma , and made her Dayton Opera debut in the role of Maddalena/ Rigoletto . She is a four-time district winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. In Lyric’s 2020/21 season, Felty sang in Sole e Amore , Magical Music Around the World , and Rising Stars in Concert . STEPHANIE SANCHEZ | PASSENGER 3 | FOUR PORTRAITS Lyric debut This season, the mezzo-soprano returns to Arizona Opera as Dryade in Ariadne auf Naxos and Maddalena in Rigoletto at Intermountain Opera. Her debuts this season include performances as Carlotta in Zorro at Opera Southwest and the Commanding Of cer’s Wife in The Knock at Cincinnati Opera. Sanchez’s 2021/22 highlights included performances as Third Lady in The Magic Flute with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; the Mother in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Coraline with West Edge Opera; and Mercédès/ Carmen at Opera San José. At the 2021 Glimmerglass Festival, Sanchez sang the role of Ines in Francesca Zambello’s adaptation of Il trovatore and was a featured artist in an all-Wagner concert conducted by Maestro Joseph Colaneri. That same season, she also made her house debut with Austin Opera in a solo recital highlighting works by Mexican and LatinX composers. Sanchez has been the recipient of several awards, recently taking home the Audience Choice Award at the 2021 Jensen Foundation competition. Other notable engagements include Prince Orlofsky in Die Fledermaus , Hansel in Hansel and Gretel , and Azucena in Il trovator e, all with Opera San José; Gertrude in Hansel and Gretel with Brava Opera Theater; Olga in Eugene Onegin with Intermountain Opera; and Baroness Nica in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and Flosshilde in Das Rheingold , both with Arizona Opera. CORNELIUS JOHNSON | PASSENGER 5 | FOUR PORTRAITS Lyric debut The Chicago native has performed with Chautauqua Opera, Connecticut Opera, Chamber Opera Chicago, Elgin Opera, Lake George Opera Festival, Opera Memphis, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, South Shore Opera Company of Chicago, Shreveport Opera, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Ravinia Music Festival, and with Lyric’s Opera In The Neighborhoods program. He made his professional operatic debut as Peter the Honeyman in Houston Grand Opera’s production of Porgy and Bess , which then toured to the Opéra Bastille in Paris, La Scala in Milan, and the Bunkamura Theater with the Tokyo Philharmonic. He has also performed the role with the Sydney Symphony (Australia), the Jacksonville Symphony, and Toledo Opera. Johnson’s numerous concert appearances include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Allegro Chorale and Orchestra; Handel’s Messiah , Mozart’s Requiem , and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria with the Elmhurst Choral Union; and Messiah with Indiana University South Bend Chorus and Orchestra, Chicago Chamber Orchestra, and the Michigan City Community Orchestra. Johnson sang in a program of arias and duets on the opening weekend of the Jay Pritzker Pavilion and is Associate Professor of Music in the City Colleges of Chicago. ALEJANDRO LUÉVANOS | PASSENGER 6 | FOUR PORTRAITS Previously at Lyric: Three roles, most recently Lillas Pastia/ Carmen and A Royal Herald/ Don Carlos (both 2022/23). Born in Durango, Mexico, the rst-year member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble made his debut this season as Riccardo/ Ernani . His appearances in Mexico include Don José/ Carmen (Toluca Philharmonic Orchestra); Borsa/ Rigoletto , Count Almaviva/ The Barber of Seville, and scenes from Il trovatore (Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México); and Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Petite Messe Solennelle , as well as an opera gala with Ramón Vargas (all at Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes). Luévanos was previously a two-year member of the Opera Studio at the Bellas Artes, where he is scheduled to return to appear in Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk . A former participant in the International Summer Program in Sankt Goar, Germany, he is also a 2021 and 2022 winner of the Mexico District in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. Alejandro Luévanos is sponsored by an Anonymous Donor. DARREN DRONE | PASSENGER 7 | FOUR PORTRAITS Lyric debut This season, the baritone makes debuts with Seattle Opera as Baron Douphol in La traviata , Portland Opera as Zuniga in Carmen , and Opera San José in the title role of Verdi’s Falstaff . He also participated in a workshop of Nmon Ford’s House of Orfeus , performed in a concert of operatic favorites with the Santa Fe Symphony. This summer Drone will debut at The Glimmerglass Festival as Marcello in La bohème and Grégorio in Roméo et Juliette . During the 2021/22 season, he was a featured soloist in Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera and made his Opera Memphis debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte . In the summer of 2022, he sang Moralès in Carmen at Santa Fe. During the 2023/24 season Drone will make debuts with Houston Grand Opera and Dallas Opera while also returning to Portland Opera in a leading role. CORINNE WALLACE-CRANE | GPS | FOUR PORTRAITS Previously at Lyric: Lyric Chorus since 2010/11. At Lyric, Wallace-Crane has taken the roles of Shaindel/ Fiddler on the Roof (2022/23), 3rd Knaben/ The Magic Flute (2021/22), Sister Lillianne/ Dead Man Walking (2019/20), Sprite/ Cendrillon (2018/19), and Night Maid/ My Fair Lady (2016/17). She was featured with the Grant Park Music Festival as the alto soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria in 2021 and Rachmaninoff’s Vespers in 2017. This summer she will return to the festival in Mendelssohn’s The First Walpurgis Night . Wallace- Crane trained as a young artist at the Natchez Opera Festival, Central City Opera, and Sarasota Opera.