Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 4 - Figaro

31 | Lyric Opera of Chicago Opera, and both Leporello in Don Giovanni and Jacob in the world premiere of The Righteous at Santa Fe Opera. Concert performances include Handel’s Messiah with the Ann Arbor Symphony and Terence Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in My Bones in a new suite of music from the opera, performed with the composer, his E-Collective, and the Turtle Island Quartet. Newton recently made his European debut at the Salzburg Festival in Purcell’s The Indian Queen , a Detroit Opera debut in Handel’s Xerxes , and a Dallas Opera debut in Rigoletto . Earlier highlights include a Santa Fe Opera debut in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia and the world premiere at Houston Grand Opera of Joel Thompson and Andrea Davis Pinkney’s The Snowy Day . Newton completed his training at the Houston Grand Opera Studio in the 2020/21 Season and has appeared in numerous productions with the company. Past highlights also include La Bohème and Sweeney Todd with Wolf Trap Opera, Roméo et Juliette with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and both Susannah and Giulio Cesare at Rice University. GEMMA NHA BARBARINA Previously at Lyric: Page/ Rigoletto (2024/25). The Korean-Australian soprano and first- year Ryan Opera Center member was a national semi-finalist for the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and a winner in the 2024 Gerda Lissner Foundation Vocal Competition. In the 2022/23 Season, Nha made her house and role debut at Volksoper Wien as Barbarina/ Le nozze di Figaro . She will also appear at Lyric this season as Jess/ The Listeners . Nha recently received her Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, where she was a Toulmin Scholar and recipient of the Kovner Fellowship. Roles there included Ruth Baldwin/John Musto and Mark Campbell’s Later the Same Evening and Flerida/Cavalli’s Erismena . Other operatic credits include Zerlina/ Don Giovanni and Esmeralda/ Die verkaufte Braut with the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where she completed undergraduate studies. In concert, Nha has sung Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Messiah , and she performed with Patti Lupone on her 2018 Don’t Monkey with Broadway tour at the Sydney Opera House. Gemma Nha is sponsored by Lead Sponsor Peter Scheuermann and cosponsors Drs.George Dunea and Sally Metzler-Dunea. MATT BOEHLER ANTONIO Lyric debut Recent highlights for the bass include appearances at the Metropolitan Opera in both Iolanta and The Nose , Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie in Daphne , Canadian Opera Company in The Magic Flute , and Santa Fe Opera in the world premiere of The Lord of Cries (Corigliano/ Adamo). Last season, he made his debut with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and conductor Kent Nagano, singing Stravinsky’s Les noces , debuted the role of Arkel in Des Moines Metro Opera’s new production of Pelléas et Mélisande , sang Frére Laurent in Toledo Opera’s production of Roméo et Juliette , appeared with West Edge Opera in the world premiere of Bulrusher , and sang Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Modesto Symphony, as well as Gounod’s St. Cecilia Mass in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Previously Boehler made his role debut as Figaro in Madison Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro, and returned to Madison Symphony for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra for Bernstein’s Mass, and Des Moines Metro Opera for The Love for Three Oranges and The Falling and the Rising (Redler/Dye). He also reprised the role of Van Helsing for the studio recording of The Lord of Cries with the Grammy-winning Boston Modern Orchestra Project. During the 2021/22 Season, Boehler made his Florida Grand Opera debut in Rigoletto , debuted with Austin Opera in Fidelio , and returned to Des Moines Metro Opera for A Midsummer Night’s Dream . DANIEL ESPINAL DON CURZIO Previously at Lyric: Jaquino/ Fidelio (2024/25). A first-year Ryan Opera Center member, the Cuban-Dominican tenor from Sarasota was a national winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. 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. EMILY RICHTER PEASANT GIRL Lyric debut The first-year Ryan Opera Center soprano from Arlington, Virginia was a national winner of the 2024 Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. She recently completed two years as a Resident Artist with Pittsburgh Opera (2022-2024). Role highlights during her tenure include the title role/ Iphigénie en Tauride , Countess/ Le nozze di Figaro , Ma/ Proving Up , and Ginevra/ Ariodante . In the 2023/24 Season, she made her Messiah debut with the Seattle Symphony and her Verdi Requiem debut with the Westmoreland Symphony. Richter has spent her summers as an apprentice artist at Santa Fe Opera, Central City Opera, and the Seagle Festival. A first-prize winner of the Wirth Vocal Prize and the Mildred Miller Competition, she holds a Master’s Degree from McGill’s Schulich School of Music and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Lawrence University. Emily Richter is sponsored by Lead Sponsor The C.G. Pinnell Family and cosponsors Amy & Paul Carbone, and Sue Miller.