Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 2 - Fidelio

13 | Lyric Opera of Chicago You’ve mentioned that you caught the music bug in high school.What first captivated you? There was always music around—the radio in the car, records at home, things like that. But in high school, I had several friends who were pretty serious about their instruments. Some of them played in the San Francisco Youth Symphony. One close friend was a very dedicated pianist, and I studied with his teacher for a while. I remember there was a phase where a bunch of us were obsessed with Glenn Gould. We were trying to get our hands on every one of his recordings. And then there was a phase where we were obsessed with German Romantic opera, like Freischütz and Fidelio and early Wagner— Dutchman and Lohengrin and Tannhäuser — and those kinds of works. It all really accelerated when a friend of mine brought a San Francisco Symphony brochure to school, for their Beethoven Festival in 1990. I remember I asked my parents to take me. It was the very well-known period instrument practitioner, conductor Roger Norrington. He was replicating something that he had done successfully in London, called the Beethoven Experience. The first night was symphonies, the 8th and the 9th. Then all day the second day, it was a series of lectures, chamber music, piano performances, illustrated talks about Beethoven’s personality and creativity, and approaches to performance, culminating in a performance of the Missa Solemnis . I just had never experienced anything like it and got instantly hooked. I still have that brochure. It is framed, hanging on the wall in my office. Will that make the trip to Lyric? Of course. It’s a little treasure that I’ve saved since my friend handed it to me when I was 15. Then the next pivotal experience for me was the Mozart year, in 1991. San Francisco Opera has a split season, and in June and July that year I saw the David Hockney Magic Flute , The Marriage of Figaro with Renée Fleming as the Countess, and a concert performance of Lucio Silla . Quite a rarity! Your career has been largely in orchestral administration, but it sounds like opera is also a passion. I guess I’m voraciously curious. My first encounters with Classical music were really Beethoven symphonies and Mozart symphonies. And I had a reaction—it was like a rush. There’s the thrill of that initial discovery, and hearing something new that’s exciting, and you say, OK, how do I get more of that? What other Beethoven is there? Well, there’s Fidelio . What other Mozart is there? Well, there are the DaPonte operas. And Zauberflöte . One satisfies as much of that curiosity as one possibly can. I think that’s something that remains with me. I’m still trying to capture that feeling of elated discovery, of coming across something new that is musically really exciting. Anything in the world of contemporary opera that you have found particularly engaging? Oh, yes. I saw the Met Live in HD of Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones , and I thought that was an incredibly successful undertaking—there was a real vitality to the storytelling and the musical construction. Then there are composers who are working in what I would call opera- adjacent spaces. Julia Wolfe is a really good example of that, especially her oratorio, Fire in my mouth , about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire in New York. At the end of last season I heard another work of hers, unEarth , with the New York Philharmonic. She is working in this storytelling space. When I was on the West Coast, I experienced the work of a company called The Industry—the mastermind there is Yuval Sharon, well-known to Lyric audiences. His projects there were precursors to innovative works at Lyric— Twilight: Gods and Proximity . They did a piece that was set in the train station in downtown Los Angeles called Invisible Cities that was incredibly powerful. There was a project called Hopscotch , where the opera scenes took place in cars moving around greater Los Angeles. They built a central viewing or experiencing area downtown called The Hub, where you saw what was going on in the cars and you In late July, Lyric Opera of Chicago announced the appointment of John Mangum as the institution’s fifth General Director, President & CEO. Mangum has dedicated his professional life to classical music at some of the country’s foremost performing arts organizations, including the Houston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He holds a doctorate in history and musicology, and has collaborated with many of the leading artists and conductors of today. He begins full-time duties in October. L ri r f i ’ ti t t t t i i i l. t t ti t l i —t i i t , t , t i li t t. t i i l, I l f i tt i t t i i t t . f t l i t i t . l f i i t i i t, I t i it i t f il . I t f it l l . t i t t f i i . t t it ti , li i t i li l t i t i f . It ll ll l t f i f i t i t l, f t i t ti l i . I remember I asked my parents to take me. It was the very ll i i t t titi , t i t . li ti t i t t f ll i , ll t t i . t i t i , t t t t . ll t , it i f l t , i , i f , ill t t t l t t ’ lit ti it , t f , l i ti i f f t i l i . I j t i t i li it t i t tl . I till t t . It i f , i t ll i f . ill t t t t i t i f . It’ littl t t t I’ i f i it t I . t t i t l i f t t , i . i lit , i l t t I t i i l t , i f i it l i t t , t f f i ill . it r rit ! r r r l r l i r tr l i i tr ti , t it li r i l i . I I’ i l i . t t it l i l i ll t i t i . I ti it li . ’ t t ill f t t i iti l i , i t i t t’ iti , , , I t f t t t t t i t ll, t ’ i li . t t t i t ll, t t t . t . ti f t t i it i l . I t i t t’ t i t t i it . I’ till t i t t t t f li f l t i , f i t i t t i i ll ll iti . t i i t rl f t r r r t t f rti l rl i , . I t t i i f l ’ i t i , I t t t t i i l f l t i t l it lit t t t t lli t i l t ti . t i i t I l ll j t . li lf i ll l f t t, i ll t i , i i t , t t i l i t i t i . t t f l t I t f , t , it t il i . i i i t i t t lli . I t t t, I i t f ll I t t t i t i l , ll t i i . i j t t t i ti t i ili t: i it . i i t t t i t t i t ti i t l ll I i i l iti t t i i l f l. j t ll t , t t l i i t l . ilt t l i i i i t ll , t i i t i i i i i i ’ l i , i . i i i l li l i l i ’ i i i , i l i , i , il i , l il i . l i i i l , ll i l i i . i ll i i i .