Lyric Opera 2024-2025 Issue 7 - La Bohème

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 32 PETER J. HALL ORIGINAL COSTUME DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Ten productions since 1964, most recently I puritani (2017/18, 1991/92) and Lucia di Lammermoor (2003/04, 1986/87, 1975). The distinguished British designer (1926-2010) created costumes for some of the stage’s most celebrated luminaries. Among other highlights at Lyric, he created costumes for Simon Boccanegra (2012/13, 1995/96). For many years Hall was resident costume designer for the Dallas Opera, where he debuted in 1962 with The Barber of Seville and subsequently designed more than 70 productions, on occasion creating scenery as well. He also designed costumes for the Metropolitan Opera and other major American companies, as well as Royal Opera and Ballet, the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, the Mariinsky Theatre, and Opera Australia. Hall debuted in opera at Italy’s Spoleto Festival in 1961. He also designed for the theater, including productions for London’s National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company. JEANNIQUE PROSPERE COSTUME DESIGNER Lyric debut Originally from St. Lucia, West Indies, Prospere has more than 20 years of experience in costume design for theater, dance, and opera. Since 2020, she has served as Costume Director at LA Opera, where she oversees the Costume, Wardrobe, and Wigs & Makeup departments. Her design work spans multiple disciplines, including as Resident Designer for Tania Isaac Dance, in Philadelphia, The America Play (directed by Nancy Keystone) at Boston Court Theater, Winterreise (directed by Andreas Mitisek) at Long Beach Opera, Tristan and Isolde at LA Philharmonic. As an associate costume designer, she worked with Dunya Ramicova for Francesca Zambello’s An American Tragedy at the Metropolitan Opera and Peter Sellars’s El Niño at LA Philharmonic, Brooklyn Academy, and the Barbican Centre. Costume Designers are supported by the Richard P.and Susan Kiphart Costume Designer endowment. DUANE SCHULER LIGHTING DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: More than 200 productions since 1977, most recently La Cenerentola (2023/24) and Ernani (2022/23). Lyric’s former resident lighting designer has recently created lighting for the Vienna State Opera (Lucia di Lammermoor ), the Santa Fe Opera ( Jen ˚ufa ), and Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam ( La Cenerentola ). Other operatic highlights have included works as diverse as Turandot (La Scala), Pelléas et Mélisande and Cendrillon (Metropolitan Opera, where he has designed more than 25 productions), La fanciulla del West (Opéra national de Paris), Elektra (Salzburg Festival), Fidelio (London’s Royal Opera House), Béatrice et Bénédict (Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Don Pasquale (Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie), and Candide (the Santa Fe Opera). Ballet credits include Swan Lake and The Snow Maiden (American Ballet Theatre), The Sleeping Beauty (Stuttgart Ballet), Giselle (Deutsche Ballet), and The Nutcracker (Houston Ballet). Theater credits include House and Garden (Manhattan Theatre Club), The Royal Family (Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles), The Importance of Being Earnest (Broadway), and Ragtime (The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle). Schuler is a founding partner of Schuler Shook, a theater planning and architectural lighting design firm. 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 joined Lyric full time in the 2012/13 Season, after having served as interim director the season before. He was named Head of Music at Lyric, a new position, in the 2023/24 Season. Black was Chorus Director at Opera Australia in Sydney from 2001 to 2013, and has worked in this capacity for such distinguished organizations as the Edinburgh International Festival and Opera Holland Park (London), and, in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Choir, Motet Choir, the Cantillation chamber choir, and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. In Chicago, Black became the first chorus director to work with the choruses of Lyric, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the Grant Park Music Festival, where he served for six seasons, including preparation of The Damnation of Faust chorus and Haydn’s Creation . He has lectured or given masterclasses at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, and in 2025 will work with the Young Artists at Opera Australia and the apprentice singers at the Santa Fe Opera. Black 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. JOSEPHINE LEE CHILDREN’S CHORUS DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: 16 productions since 2000/01, most recently Carmen and Proximity (both 2022/23). Lee is President of Uniting Voices Chicago (formerly Chicago Children’s Choir), a nonprofit organization that empowers nearly 4,000 diverse youth annually to find their voice and celebrate their common humanity through the power of music. Her efforts have established Uniting Voices Chicago as one of the city’s premier civic and cultural institutions, and its ensembles regularly join Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, among other ensembles. Lee has led Uniting Voices Chicago singers in performances of Carmina Burana with Choral Arts Society at the Kennedy Center; recordings of James Lee III’s Pitch In with Pacifica Quartet and Stacy Garrop’s Terra Nostra with