Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 4 - Jenufa

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 72 What is your role here at Lyric? I am a Philanthropy Officer on the Leadership Giving team in Development. I work with our donors to provide them opportunities to engage with Lyric on a deeper level through their support. My job is to connect them to what’s most important for them in their philanthropy. Where do they want to make the most impact in their giving? It’s very rewarding to be a part of their lives in that way. What was your path to working here? At the end of college, I was really focused on theater and took a development and marketing apprenticeship in upstate New York at a regional theater. I loved it, but I missed my family, so I moved back to Chicago, and I started working at Chicago Opera Theater part-time. I interviewed at Lyric for a position that didn’t end up being the right fit, but during the interview process I was able to connect with Deborah Hare, who in 2017 offered me a position on her events team. Deb passed away just over a year ago, after 26 years at Lyric. Starting out, she worked for Ardis Krainik. Deb just embodied “The Lyric Way”—always providing an elevated, compassionate, and positive experience for our donors and patrons. I’m very grateful for the time I got to spend working with her. She wasn’t just my supervisor—she was also my mentor and best friend. I miss her dearly. She gave me an incredible opportunity and I strive to make sure that her legacy lives on. What is exciting about your role at Lyric? Being able to hear stories from our donors about when they saw their first opera at Lyric—or the greats that they saw. Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, and Renée Fleming to name a few. I still “pinch myself” when I walk into our beautiful opera house because I almost can’t believe that I’m part of this great cultural institution. Being a part of that history and learning about it through the members of our Lyric family is very rewarding. What about your job would surprise people? People who come to the opera are focused on the production, but the seats in the house, the building itself, the cooling system— these are all opportunities of support and essential to Lyric’s success. I think it would surprise people that our fundraising work is not simply to put opera on the stage. There are many facets; we are fundraising for capital projects to improve the patron experience, or we’re making sure that we have supply fans that push through fresh air, or we’re making accessibility improvements. My job includes stewarding gifts in the way that donors are asking them to be stewarded. What do you like about working in the arts? Oh my gosh, I love working in the arts. The arts can transport you to another time and another place for a couple of hours. It’s where artists/actors have an opportunity to dive in and portray someone who is not who they are in real life—to have that imaginative experience. And the arts are very conversational for those viewing as well as for those participating. Discussing what you see on stage allows people to strike up a dialogue. Beyond opera, what are your other passions? I absolutely love spending time with my family. I have seven nieces and nephews, and I get to see them often and get to share with them the experiences and things that I love. I am passionate about the performing arts and music, and I love going to see shows in other theaters around Chicago. People of Lyric A behind-the-scenes conversation Hometown: Canton, Illinois. A small farming community near Peoria. First opera you saw live: It was summer of 1997 at the Opera Bastille in Paris and it was Rigoletto . We had flown in from the United States, and we figured we were supposed to stay up and keep going and then sleep and then you’re up the next day. Well, my grandmother and I, we took a nap. I only remembered bits and pieces of that opera until I saw it in Lyric’s 2017/18 Season. Favorite opera: I absolutely loved the Lyric production of Dead Man Walking . It was such a moving and very intense opera, and I thought it was beautifully done. Favorite Chicago spot: Growing up I wanted to be a marine biologist, so I have a membership to the Shedd Aquarium so I can satisfy that side of me. I will just go there and immerse myself with the fishes and the dolphins and the otters. It’s so peaceful and nurturing to me. Paul D. Sprecher Philanthropy Officer Kyle Flubacker