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

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 CHRISTIAN R Ä TH REVIVAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut A native of Hamburg, the director has worked in many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra national de Paris, and the Royal Opera House. He directs a large and diverse repertoire, ranging from Wagner, Strauss, Janáˇcek, Puccini, Verdi, Donizetti, Mozart, Britten, and Bartók to musicals and contemporary creations. Recent new productions include Strauss’s Die Schweigsame Frau and Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane at the Bard Summerscape Festival, Der Freischütz and Macbeth at the Wiener Staatsoper, Le Baron Tzigane at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, L’italiana in Algeri in Portland, and the direction and design of Kiss Me Kate for the Haut école de musique de Genève, in collaboration with the Théâtre du Galpon. Future seasons will include the world premiere of Woman with Eyes Closed by Jennifer Higdon at Opera Philadelphia, and a return to Bard. Other opera stagings include Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and the direction and design of Tristan und Isolde for The Dallas Opera, Verdi’s rarely-performed comic opera Un Giorno di Regno (King for a Day) for the Glimmerglass Festival, Falstaff at Washington National Opera, Roméo et Juliette at Houston Grand Opera, Fidelio and Luisa Miller at The Dallas Opera, Die Zauberflöte at Cairo Opera House, and Carmen at the Grand Théâtre de Genève. CHANTAL THOMAS SET DESIGNER Lyric debut The French set designer studied at École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. She has worked regularly with Laurent Pelly on more than 60 productions for theater and opera. Their credits together include Le roi Carotte, Viva la Mamma, Offenbach’s Barbe-bleue (Opéra de Lyon), I Puritani, Giulio Cesare, L’elisir d’amore, Ariadne auf Naxos, Platée (Opéra national de Paris), La fille du régiment, Manon, Robert le diable (Royal Opera House and Met Opera), La Grande- Duchesse de Gérolstein and La belle Hélène (Théâtre du Châtelet), Don Pasquale (Santa Fe Opera, La Monnaie Bruxelles, Teatro Real Madrid), L’étoile and The Love for Three Oranges (National Opera Amsterdam), Pelléas et Mélisande (Theater an der Wien), La traviata and Candide (Santa Fe Opera). Other recent highlights include Le nozze de Figaro (Santa Fe and Matsumoto Japan), Così fan tutte, La Périchole (Theatre des Champs-Élysées), and Il Turco in Italia (Teatro Real Madrid). Her work has also appeared at the Liceu Barcelona, the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Vienna State Opera. JOËL ADAM LIGHTING DESIGNER Lyric debut Recent highlights for the designer include Così fan tutte at Pacific Opera and Il Turco in Italia at the Teatro Real Madrid in 2023. Adam is a longtime collaborator with Laurent Pelly, and worked with him on Contes d’Hoffmann (Lyon, San Francisco), The Love for Three Oranges (Amsterdam), I Puritani (Opéra national de Paris), and L’Enfant et les Sortilèges at the Matsumoto Festival in Japan. Other highlights include Comte Ory (Lyon, La Scala) and L’étoile (Amsterdam). Adam provided designs for Hansel and Gretel (Teatro Real Madrid, Seattle), the revival of Platée at the Opéra national de Paris, and L’elisir d’amore (Opéra national de Paris), Le roi Carotte (Lyon), Le médecin malgré lui (Geneva), Le coq d’or (Brussels, Opéra national de Lorraine, Teatro Real), Viva la Mamma (Lyon), and The Barber of Seville (Théâtre des Champs-Élysées). His many theatrical collaborations include Shakespeare’s Hamlet with Philippe Adrien at the Théâtre de la Tempête, Molière’s L’Avare and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice with Andreï Serban at the Comédie Française, Marivaux’s La mère confidente at Théâtre du Vieux Colombier, and Roméo and Juliette at the Opera of Bordeaux with Sandrine Anglade. Lighting designers are supported by the Mary-Louise and James S.Aagaard endowment in honor of Duane Schuler. MICHAEL BLACK CHORUS DIRECTOR The Australian Chorus Director 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 ve seasons. He has served as chorus director for close to 140 different operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. Michael Black is supported by the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Director Endowed Chair. LAURA SCOZZI ORIGINAL CHOREOGRAPHER Previously at Lyric: Original choreographer/ Cendrillon (2018/19). The choreographer, based in France, founded her company, Opinioni in Movimento, in 1994. As a guest choreographer, she created Seven Deadly Sins for the ballet of the Opéra national de Paris and My Relationships With Men Were