Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 3 - Daughter of the Regiment

27 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Melitone/ La forza del destino and recently reprised the role in the acclaimed new production at London’s Royal Opera House. He holds the Premio Abbiati, the Italian music critics’ prize, for his Leporello at La Scala and the similarly prestigious Rossini d’Oro for his Don Geronio at Pesaro’s Rossini Opera Festival. ALAN HIGGS HORTENSIUS Previously at Lyric: Five roles since 2017/18, most recently Sacristan/ Tosca (2021/22) and The King/ Cendrillon (2018/19). The bass-baritone, a Florida native and Ryan Opera Center alumnus, was formerly a studio artist at The Atlanta Opera. His roles there included the Imperial Commissioner/ Madama Butterfly , Benoît and Alcindoro/ La bohème , the British Major/ Kevin Puts’s Silent Night , and the Mandarin/ Turandot . His 2023 season included the role of the Duke in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with Opera San Antonio and he was the guest artist for the Southeast Regional Metropolitan Opera Competition, in which he was both a winner of the Southeast Region and a national semifinalist in 2017. His 2021/22 season included Monterone in Rigoletto with Florentine Opera and Colline in La bohème with Vero Beach Opera and Opera Birmingham. He spent two summers as an Apprentice with the Santa Fe Opera where he performed the Mayor in Jen ˚ufa and Jose Castro in Fanciulla del West. In the 2019/20 season he made his debut with San Antonio Opera as Angelotti and Sciarrone in Tosca, sang Alidoro in Cenerentola with both Dayton Opera and the Atlanta Opera, and performed the Fifth Jew in Salome with The Atlanta Opera . Higgs has won numerous awards including an American Opera Society Scholarship and a Solti Foundation Scholarship. JOY HERMALYN DUCHESS OF CRAKENTORP Previously at Lyric: Fiddler on the Roof (2022/23). Hermalyn’s recent regional credits include a return to the role of Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir . She appeared on Broadway as Grandma Gellman in the Tony- and Grammy-nominated revival of Caroline, or Change . Other Broadway credits include Fiddler on the Roof (Fruma/Yente), Cyrano theMusical (Chaperone), Christmas Carol (Mrs. Fezziwig), Candide , and Baz Luhrmann’s La bohème . Regional appearances include Cabaret , Souvenir , Gypsy , Sweeney Todd , Oliver! , and Beauty and the Beast . Hermalyn sangMinnie in La fanciulla del West in repertory with Abigail Adams/ 1776 at Utah Festival Opera. Other opera credits include La lle du régiment , Le Comte Ory , Rigoletto , Il trittico , Madama Butter y , La bohème (Leoncavallo), Faust , Der Rosenkavalier , Die Fledermaus , Trouble in Tahiti , and Hansel and Gretel , and she has touredwidely in the major Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. She was a featured performer in Sound of Music Live! on NBC and in Sweeney Todd with the New York Philharmonic for Live fromLincoln Center on PBS, and has sung at Avery Fisher, Carnegie, and the Royal Albert Halls. RON DUKES CORPORAL Previously at Lyric: Chief’s Son #1 and Passenger 8/ Proximity and Sam/ The Factotum (both 2022/23). Last season, the second-year Ryan Opera Center member sang Jago in Lyric’s Ernani and was featured at Pittsburgh Opera in We Shall Not Be Moved . He completed his master’s degree in opera at the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University. While there, he served as Associate Instructor of Voice and performed numerous featured roles with IU Opera Theatre, among them Bartolo/ The Marriage of Figaro , Don Basilio/ The Barber of Seville , and Simone/ Gianni Schicchi . He has extensive experience with local, start-up opera companies in Bloomington, Indiana, including Bloomington Chamber Opera, where he portrayed Sarastro/ The Magic Flute , and A Little Knight Music Opera Company, where he was heard as Oroveso/ Norma . Originally from Indianapolis, Dukes is a former Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera (Truffaldino/ Ariadne auf Naxos ) and the Glimmerglass Festival (Old Gypsy/ Il trovatore , Second Priest and Second Armored Man/ The Magic Flute ). He recently concluded a residency with Pensacola Opera for the company’s 39th season, singing Basilio/ The Barber of Seville and Sarastro. Ron Dukes is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Lois B. Siegel *. LAUREANO QUANT NOTARY Previously at Lyric: Dancaïre/ Carmen and Count of Lerma/ Don Carlos (both 2022/23). A second-year member of the Ryan Opera Center Ensemble and a native of Barranquilla, Colombia, the baritone holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music and a Master of Musical Arts degree from Yale University. Highlights of his repertoire include 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 . In the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Quant was awarded Second Place in both the Western Region (2022) and the Southeastern Region (2020). He has also won the Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship (2023), the Online Audience Award in Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias (2020), and First Prize in the Premio de Canto Ciudad de Bogotá (2018). Quant has participated in prestigious programs such as the Merola Opera Program and SongStudio, the latter led by Renée Fleming at Carnegie Hall, and has appeared in concert with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago. Laureano Quant is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Peter Scheuermann .