Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 2 - Fidelio

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 32 YUKI NAKASE LINK LIGHTING DESIGNER Lyric debut Based in New York City and the Baltimore area, Link started her career as a lighting designer for Nippon Television Network Corporation in Tokyo, working with them for eight years before she moved to the United States. She has previously designed with Matthew Ozawa for Gluck’s Orpheus and Eurydice at San Francisco Opera; Puccini’s Madame Butterfly , a co-production of Cincinnati Opera, Detroit Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, and Utah Opera; and Huang Ruo’s Angel Island at BAM Harvey/Prototype Festival. Recent credits include Mozart’s Così fan tutte at Detroit Opera, John Cage’s Europeras: 3 & 4 at Detroit Opera, Aaron Zigman’s Émigré at New York Philharmonic, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo at Santa Fe Opera, and Christopher Cerrone’s In a Grove at Pittsburgh Opera. Lighting designers are supported by the Mary-Louise and James S.Aagaard endowment in honor of Duane Schuler. MICHAEL BLACK CHORUS DIRECTOR The Australian Chorus Director is in his 14th season at Lyric, having held this position at Opera Australia in Sydney from 2001 to 2013. Black has served in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival, Opera Holland Park (London), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, the Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Other activities include preparing The Damnation of Faust chorus and Haydn’s Creation at the Grant Park Music Festival, where he has worked for five seasons. He has served as chorus director for close to 140 different operas on four continents, and his work has been recorded and/ or aired on ABC, BBC, PBS, for many HD productions in movie theaters, and on television. Michael Black is supported by the Howard A. Stotler Chorus Director Endowed Chair. JOHN METZNER WIGMASTER AND MAKEUP DESIGNER The versatile designer first joined the staff of Lyric for the 2022/23 Season. He has previously collaborated with Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Lookingglass Theatre, and Court Theatre. He served for nine years as Head of Wig and Makeup for Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts, and designed hair and makeup for more than 50 performances at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. Other regional credits include work at The Muny, Great River Shakespeare Festival, and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, where he designed for The Pirates of Penzance , among many other productions. His advanced training includes wig styling at the Wig Room Training Academy and London School of Wig Making. John Metzner is supported by the Marlys A. Beider Wigmaster and Makeup Designer Endowed Chair. MELANIE BACALING ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Assistant director on The Factotum (2022/23) and Fire Shut Up in My Bones (2021/22). A Chicago native, Bacaling is currently on the stage directing staff at the Metropolitan Opera. Recent projects include assistant directing at Santa Fe Opera and her film directing debut with Boston Lyric Opera, a concert docu-series titled B ., which can be found on operabox.tv. Bacaling has previously worked on productions with LA Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Detroit Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Omaha, Washington Concert Opera, Aspen Opera Center, Sun Valley Music Festival, The Boston Conservatory, and Longy School of Music. As a producer, Bacaling worked with Boston Lyric Opera to create We Need to Listen , a series of conversations highlighting racial inequities in classical music and opera. With Opera Omaha, she produced and co-curated the inaugural season of Amplifying the Black Experience with soprano Chabrelle Williams. Bacaling holds a BM in Voice and BS in Psychology from the University of Evansville, as well as an MM in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Boston Conservatory. NICK SANDYS FIGHT DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: More than 70 productions since 1995/96, most recently Ernani and Carmen (both 2022/23) The British fight director has created choreography for many Chicago companies including Goodman Theatre (more than 25 productions, most recently Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil , Joe Turner’s Come and Gone , and Swing State (also Off-Broadway)), Steppenwolf Theatre Company (including the Tony-winning Broadway revival of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? ), Lookingglass, Northlight, Timeline, Remy Bumppo, First Folio, and Shattered Globe, among others. He previously worked at Lyric on Macbeth and Tosca (2021/22), and on the Emmy-winning film of Pagliacci (2020/21). Other opera highlights include the Metropolitan Opera ( Prince Igor , Giulio Cesare , Il trovatore ), Canadian Opera Company, Dallas Opera, Portland Opera, and Florentine Opera, as well as major theater companies in Kansas City, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Dallas, and Forth Worth, among others. Sandys has taught stage combat at The Theatre School at DePaul University since 1995, choreographing more than than 80 productions. He served as the revival director for Lyric’s production of Sir David McVicar’s Elektra (2018/19), which appeared also in Houston and Dallas.