Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 2 - Fidelio

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 30 ALFRED WALKER DON FERNANDO Previously at Lyric: Father/ Hansel and Gretel (2022/23). In the 2023/24 Season, the bass-baritone returned to the role of Enobarbus in the European premiere of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra with Gran Teatre del Liceu; sang Orest in Elektra with Dallas Opera; returned to the Metropolitan Opera for Frère Laurant in Roméo et Juiliette and Rambaldo in La rondine ; and joined Vashon Opera for Iago in Otello . In the 2022/23 Season, Walker returned to San Francisco Opera as Enobarbus in the world premiere of Antony and Cleopatr a; joined the Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni ; and sang Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the LA Philharmonic. A graduate of Dillard University, Loyola University, and the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, the New Orleans native is a recipient of awards from the George London Foundation, Palm Beach Opera Competition, Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition, and the Sullivan Foundation. SYDNEY MANCASOLA MARZELLINE Lyric debut This season, the California-born soprano makes house debuts at Dutch National Opera as Adele/ Die Fledermaus , Opera Nice Côte d’Azur as Pamina/ Die Zauberflöt e, and the Seji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival in Japan as Titania/ A Midsummer Night’s Dream , reprising the role she performed last season in her company debuts at both the Fondazione Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa, Italy, and at the Royal Opera House Muscat. Sydney also sings the role of Norina/ Don Pasquale for her house debut at Staatsoper Hamburg and later in the season at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mancasola was previously a member of the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, where her roles included Gilda/ Rigoletto , Musetta/ La Bohème , Pamina/ Die Zauberflöte , Onoria/ Ezio , the Italian Singer in Capriccio , Roxana in a new production of Szymanowski’s Król Roger , Frasquita/ Carmen , Susanna/ Le nozze di Figaro , and the soprano soloist in a new production of Betulia liberata . Other recent highlights include the title role in Matthew Aucoin’s Eurydice in a new arrangement of the work for Boston Lyric Opera, a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Frasquita in a new production of Carmen , and appearing as Mélisande in Pelléas et Mélisande at Des Moines Metro Opera. DANIEL ESPINAL JAQUINO Lyric debut A first-year Ryan Opera Center member, the Cuban-Dominican tenor from Sarasota was a national winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. For Lyric’s 2024/25 Season he will also sing Don Curzio/ The Marriage of Figaro . A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music, Espinal continued his studies at Yale University, where he recently received a Master of Musical Arts degree. His roles there included Tom Rakewell/ The Rake’s Progress , Rinuccio/ Gianni Schicchi , and Male Chorus/ The Rape of Lucretia . Espinal has previously participated in San Francisco’s Merola Opera Program for two summers, where he sang the Duke/ Rigoletto , David/ Die Meistersinger , and Arcadio/ Florencia en el Amazonas . His repertoire also includes Alfredo/ La traviata and Tamino/ Die Zauberflöte . Daniel Espinal is sponsored by Lead Sponsor the J.Thomas Hurvis Endowment,in loving memory of Dick Kiphart and cosponsors Fred & Phoebe Boelter. TRAVON D.WALKER FIRST PRISONER Previously at Lyric: Borsa/ Rigoletto (2024/25). 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 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 2023 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, the 2024 Best Vocal Artist Award from the American Opera Society, and the 2024 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Men’s Voice Fellowship. Travon D. Walker is sponsored by the Robert & Isabelle Bass Foundation,Inc. and the Ford and Mages families. CHRISTOPHER HUMBERT, JR. SECOND PRISONER Previously at Lyric: Count Ceprano/ Rigoletto (2024/25). Originally from Akron, Ohio, the second-year Ryan Opera Center bass-baritone has performed widely, including soloist appearances with Minnesota Orchestra ( The Listening Project , 2022), Civic Orchestra of Chicago, Palm Beach 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 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 Palm Beach 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 Vaughan Williams’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 from Capital University in Columbus, Ohio and a Master of Music degree from Boston Conservatory. Christopher Humbert, Jr. is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Patricia Frank and cosponsor Mary Houston,in loving memory of James Houston.