Lyric Opera 2023-2024 Issue 5 - Cinderella

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 YI-CHEN LIN CONDUCTOR Lyric debut Highlights of the conductor’s 2023/24 season include debuts with the Sachsische Staatskapelle Dresden and Den Norske Opera ( Dialogues des Carmélites ) as well as concerts with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Taipei Symphony Orchestra, Bochumer Symphoniker, and the National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra. She will also return to the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier, the Bregenz Festival ( Tancredi ), and the Deutsche Oper Berlin ( Madama Butterfly ). Recent highlights include appearances with the Royal Danish Opera ( Carmen ), a new production at Oper Frankfurt ( Die Kluge & Der Zar läßt sich photographieren ), and an appearance at Staatstheater Stuttgart (Don Giovann i), as well as concerts with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker and the Opéra Orchestre National de Montpellier. She recently returned to the Orquesta Sinfónica RTVE Madrid and to the Bregenz Festival for the revival of Madama Butterfly . From 2020/21 until spring 2023, Lin was Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where she made her acclaimed debut with a new production of Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek , and where she gave numerous repertoire performances including Carmen , Die Zauberflöte , Die Fledermaus , Il barbiere di Siviglia , Simon Boccanegra , and Un ballo in maschera . Concert invitations include leading orchestras such as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, SWR Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro Comunale di Bologna, and the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra. Other opera engagements include the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid ( Carmen ), Teatro Comunale di Bologna (Le nozze di Figaro ), Teatro Principal in Palma de Mallorca ( L’elisir d’amore and Les contes d’Hoffmann ) and Ópera de Tenerife ( Il viaggio a Reims ). Conductor Yi-Chen Lin is sponsored by Lori Julian for the Julian Family Foundation. JEAN-PIERRE PONNELLE ORIGINAL DIRECTOR/DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Eleven productions since 1972, most recently Tosca (2021/22) and Idomeneo (2018/19). The French director-designer (1932-1988) created his first production design in Hannover, Henze’s Boulevard Solitude (world premiere). He made his directing debut with Tristan und Isolde in 1963 in Düsseldorf, thereafter designing and directing all his productions. Ponnelle made his international breakthrough with The Barber of Seville at the 1968 Salzburg Festival. His success led to a remarkable series of productions for La Scala, Covent Garden, the Metropolitan Opera, the major houses of San Francisco, Munich, and Zurich, and the festivals of Salzburg and Bayreuth. Among his greatest achievements were the three Monteverdi operas in Zurich; Tristan for Bayreuth; the Mozart/da Ponte operas in Paris; the world premieres of Reimann’s Lear and Troades in Munich; and three Rossini works at La Scala. Many of his productions have been remounted repeatedly worldwide, and he adapted many of them himself for video. GREGORY A. FORTNER REVIVAL DIRECTOR Lyric debut The American stage director’s comic opera and theater work have been seen throughout the U.S., Brazil, Japan, Europe, and China. Highlights include Don Giovanni and La bohème (LA Opera), Falstaff (Aspen Music Festival), La Cenerentola (New National Theater Tokyo, San Francisco Opera), Il trovatore (Teatro Municipal Rio de Janeiro), The Tempest (La Scala, Wiener Staatsoper), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Opera Carolina), Madama Butterfly (Detroit Opera), Pagliacci (Toledo Opera), Don Giovanni (Anchorage Opera, Toledo Opera), Faust (Toledo Opera), Lucia di Lammermoor (Palm Beach Opera), Carmen (Connecticut Opera, Opera Carolina), Die Fledermaus (Palm Beach Opera), and Tristan und Isolde (Eugene Symphony). Directing credits for the theater include When You Wish (Walt Disney Company), Old Clown Wanted (National Theater of Bucharest, Sibiu International Festival, Arad Underground Festival, New Jersey Rep, Trapdoor Theater, Act French: A Festival of New French Plays), and Scotland Road (Detroit Rep). As an associate director, Fortner has worked with such notable directors as Robert Lepage, Peter Stein, Sir Peter Hall, Michael Grandage, Bartlett Sher, Robert Altman, Adrian Noble, and Ron Daniels. He was also a member of the directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for nine seasons. DUANE SCHULER LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: More than 200 productions since 1977, most recently Ernani (2022/23) and Tosca (2021/22). Lyric’s former resident lighting designer has recently created lighting for the Vienna State Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor ), the Santa Fe Opera ( Jen ˚ufa ), and Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam ( La Cenerentola ). Other operatic highlights have included works as diverse as Turandot (La Scala), Pelléas et Mélisande and Cendrillon (Metropolitan Opera, where he has designed more than 25 productions), La fanciulla del West (Opéra national de Paris), Elektra (Salzburg Festival), Fidelio (London’s Royal Opera House), Béatrice et Bénédict (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Don Pasquale (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie), and Candide (the Santa Fe Opera). Ballet credits include Swan Lake and The Snow Maiden (American Ballet Theatre), The Sleeping Beauty (Stuttgart Ballet), Giselle (Deutsche Ballet), and The Nutcracker (Houston Ballet). Theater credits include House and Garden (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Royal Family (Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles), The Importance of Being Earnest (Broadway), and Ragtime (The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle). Schuler is a founding partner of Schuler Shook, a theater planning and architectural lighting design firm. Lighting designers are supported by the Mary-Louise and James S.Aagaard endowment in honor of Duane Schuler.