Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 1 - Rigoletto

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 Orchestra), and in Handel’s Messiah (Las Vegas Philharmonic). An alumna of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Reams appeared in HGO productions of La traviata, Elektra, West Side Story, Nixon in China , and in world premieres of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life and Laura Kaminsky’s Some Light Emerges . Other notable appearances include Clarice/ La pietra del paragone (Wolf Trap Opera), Tituba/Robert Ward’s The Crucible (The Glimmerglass Festival), and Sandman/ Hansel and Gretel (Opéra Louisiane). ANDREW MANEA MONTERONE Lyric debut The Romanian American baritone recently made his role debut as the Duke of Nottingham in Roberto Devereux with San Francisco Opera. Last season, he made house debuts with Nashville Opera, singing Tonio in Pagliacci ; North Carolina Opera as Germont in La traviata ; Sarasota Opera as Escamillo in Carmen ; and The Grange Festival in Hampshire, U.K. singing Scarpia in Tosca . He also returned to Maryland Opera for Scarpia, joined the Indianapolis Symphony for Handel’s Messiah , and participated in the Metropolitan Opera’s workshop of Mason Bates’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay . This season, he returns to North Carolina Opera to sing Don Carlo in Ernani . Recent highlights include Ford in Falstaff with Palm Beach Opera, and soloist for Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall and for the Bravissimo Bel Canto concert at Maryland Opera. Previously, Manea debuted with Arizona Opera as Escamillo in Carmen and Opera Omaha as Lorenzo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi , performed the role of Montano in Pacific Symphony’s Otello , and returned to Palm Beach Opera as Danilo in The Merry Widow . TRAVON D.WALKER BORSA Lyric debut The second-year Ryan Opera Center tenor recently received his master’s degree from Rice University, where he sang Sam Kaplan/ Street Scene . In Lyric’s 2024/25 Season, he will also appear as 1st Prisoner/ Fidelio , Son/ Blue , and Parpignol/ La Bohème . A native of Hinesville, Georgia, Walker completed his undergraduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. While there, he made his operatic debut in Ricky Ian Gordon’s The Tibetan Book of the Dead . Walker has been a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera and was invited to participate in Renée Fleming’s 2023 SongStudio and Joyce DiDonato’s 2024 Masterclass Series, both at Carnegie Hall, as well as the 2023 Britten Pears Young Artist Programme. Other engagements include the Erie Philharmonic and Houston Grand Opera (Jeremy Howard Beck’s Another City , world premiere). Walker received an Encouragement Award from the Kansas City District in the 2023 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a 2024 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship. Travon D. Walker is sponsored by the Robert & Isabelle Bass Foundation,Inc. SANKARA HAROUNA MARULLO Previously at Lyric: Benny Paret and Benny Jr./ Champion (2023/24). A Chicago native and first-year Ryan Opera Center baritone, Harouna joined Portland Opera as a Resident Artist in the 2023/24 Season, where he was seen in Le nozze di Figaro and The Snowy Day . A former apprentice artist at Des Moines Metro Opera, he performed there as Moralès/ Carmen and Homecoming Soldier/Redler’s The Falling and the Rising . Other previous engagements include Greensboro Opera, Atlanta Opera, Dayton Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Cincinnati Opera. In concert, he performed Mozart’s Missa Brevis with the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. Harouna previously participated in the artist-development programs of Atlanta Opera, Kentucky Opera, and Dayton Opera. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Music in Vocal Performance at Kentucky State University. Sankara Harouna is sponsored by Lead Sponsors Michael Steinberg and Salme Harju Steinberg. CHRISTOPHER HUMBERT, JR. COUNT CEPRANO Lyric debut Originally fromAkron, Ohio, the second-year Ryan Opera Center bass-baritone has performed widely, including soloist appearances withMinnesota Orchestra ( The Listening Project , 2022), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, PalmBeach Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Detroit Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. In the 2024/25 Season, Humbert will also appear at Lyric as 2nd Prisoner/ Fidelio and 3rd Policeman/ Blue . In 2023, he was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, St. Louis district. Humbert is a former participant in the young artist programs at PalmBeach Opera ( L’elisir d’amore, Carmen, La Bohème, Die Zauberflöte ) and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Concert appearances include Carnegie Hall (a debut as baritone soloist in VaughanWilliams’s Dona Nobis Pacem ) and the Erie Philharmonic. Recipient of a 2024 American Opera Society of Chicago Scholarship Award, Humbert holds a Bachelor of Music degree fromCapital University in Columbus, Ohio and a Master of Music degree fromBoston Conservatory. Christopher Humbert, Jr. is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Patricia Frank and cosponsor Mary Houston,in loving memory of James Houston. ADIA EVANS COUNTESS CEPRANO Lyric debut A first-year Ryan Opera Center soprano from Baltimore, Evans will also appear this season as Girlfriend 2/ Blue and Theresa Alvarez/ The Listeners . In the 2023/24 Season, the soprano debuted at The Cliburn in Recital with Jake Heggie, the Dayton Philharmonic (Handel’s Messiah ), and Annapolis Opera (First Lady/ The Magic Flute ). Other recent highlights include Mimì/ La bohème with the Borderland Arts Foundation and Beethoven’s 9th with the National Orchestral Institute and Marin Alsop. Evans has performed with the Santa Fe Opera, Merola Opera Program, Fort Worth Opera, Dallas Opera Guild, Opera