Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 4 - Figaro

33 | Lyric Opera of Chicago productions and spanned 30 years. Recent highlights include Rigoletto at Opera På Skaret in Kopparberg, Sweden, and Age of Innocence at The Old Globe in San Diego. Mickey’s television and film work includes Miss Evers’ Boys for HBO and Mama Flora’s Family for CBS. She taught for 13 years at the University of Texas - Austin, earning a Regents Teaching award and a Hamilton Creative Research Award, and until 2024 served as the Director of the School of Theatre in the College of Fine Arts at Boston University. Costume Designers are supported by the Richard P.and Susan Kiphart Costume Designer endowment. ROBERT WIERZEL LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Three productions since 2002/03, most recently The Marriage of Figaro (2015/16) and Macbeth (2010/11) . The designer’s work has appeared in productions with opera companies in New York (Glimmerglass Festival, NYCO), Paris, Tokyo, Norway, Toronto, Vancouver, Wexford, Atlanta, Boston, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, Portland, Denver (Opera Colorado), Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, among others. He designed Partenope at Lyric in the 2002/03 Season. Broadway productions include Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill , the musical FELA! (Tony Award nomination), and David Copperfield’s Dreams and Nightmares . Upcoming work includes STILL/HERE , a dance- theatre piece with Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, Siegfried at The Atlanta Opera, The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs at Washington National Opera, Leopoldstadt at Huntington Theatre Company in Boston and Shakespeare Theatre in Washington, D. C., and Rigoletto at LA Opera. Wierzel’s dance work includes more than 35 years with Bill T. Jones and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. He has designed at most regional theaters across the country, including The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta); Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Guthrie Theater; Goodman Theatre; and the Mark Taper Forum, among many others. Wierzel is a creative partner at Spark Design Collaborative and is on the faculty of NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Design For Stage & Film. 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. HARRISON M c ELDOWNEY CHOREOGRAPHER Previously at Lyric: The Marriage of Figaro (2015/16), Macbeth (2010/11). McEldowney has choreographed for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, River North Dance Chicago, DanceWorks Chicago, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the Cerqua/Rivera Art Experience, Chicago Tap Theatre, Trinity Irish Dance Company, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He created original dances for the 97th birthday celebration of renowned dance historian Ann Barzel, the Finale for Dance Chicago’s 10 Year Anniversary, and, for six years, original pieces for Dance for Life in collaboration with Jeremy Plummer and C5. McEldowney was the inaugural recipient of the Prince Prize and has received the Ruth Page, After Dark, and Choo-San Goh Awards for choreography. He choreographed for the Sam Mendes film Road to Perdition and was associate choreographer for the ’92 Barcelona Olympics’ Closing Ceremonies, Carnegie Hall’s Celebration of 125 Years of Musical Theater, and co-choreographer for Hot Mikado on London’s West End. For more than 25 years, McEldowney has been an Executive Creative Director for Chicago’s Wilson Dow Group, creating events featuring the Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Malala Yousafzai, Kristin Chenoweth, Simone Biles, and Andrea Bocelli, among others. 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 Theater, 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.