Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 1 - The Flying Dutchman

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 12 An extraordinarily generous gift to the house makes us feel all warm inside The new glass wall will keep both the foyer and lobby at a comfortable temperature. It seems useful, at the start, to note that this project seems to have many different names: The Glass Curtain. The Crowe Gift. The Air Lock. There is a candy store involved—or what once was a candy store, anyway—and something called sidelights, and a magnetic-bearing chiller. But a succinct assessment from Lawrence DelPilar perhaps sums it up best. “It may sound a little boring, because it’s about climate control,” notes Lyric’s Senior Director of Development for Principal Gifts. “But it isn’t boring at all, because when you’re down in the lobby in the dead of winter, it’s a wind tunnel. And it’s not going to be like that anymore.” Thanks to an exceptional donation from longtime patrons John “Jack” V. Crowe and Margaret Ann “Peggy” Crowe, the climate issues which have impacted the entryway of Lyric for nearly a century will be a thing of the past. The transformation of the lobby, one of the more visible projects at the opera house in recent years, is nearly complete. Three glass walls—two sealing the doorways on the north side of the room, and one enormous compound panel, separating the Nancy W. Knowles Lobby from the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Grand Foyer—have been installed over the summer. Along with a new ventilation system, the changes will serve to control and pressurize the climate inside the well-traveled entryway. Longtime patrons of Lyric will recall ticket-takers bundled in their winter coats, inside the building; they should now be able to hang them up when they report for duty. Perhaps most remarkably, the taming of the elements will be achieved without interrupting the experience of passing into the glittering height of the foyer. Above all, entering the opera house will feel good. Clearly Better “All historic buildings have to adapt and change with the times.” — Len Koroski By David Zivan