Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 6 - Hansel and Gretel

25 | Lyric Opera of Chicago ALEXANDRA L o BIANCO | MOTHER Previously at Lyric: Chrysothemis and Fourth Maid/ Elektra (2018/19) and Helmwige/ Die Walküre (2017/18). The American soprano’s recent performances include Brünnhilde in Die Walküre (Seattle Opera), Aida (Seattle Opera, Opera Colorado), title role/ Ariadne auf Naxos (Austin Opera), Tosca (Portland Opera, Seattle Opera, North Carolina Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Minnesota Opera), Turandot (Palm Beach Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera), and Leonore/ Fidelio (Vienna State Opera, North Carolina Opera). She debuted at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera as Gerhilde/ Die Walküre , and has portrayed Helmwige in that work for a tour of Japan with the Vienna State Opera. Other major performances include the title role/ La fanciulla del West (Des Moines), Amelia/ Un ballo in maschera (Miami), Miss Jessel/ The Turn of the Screw (Dallas), Marianne Leitmetzerin/ Der Rosenkavalier (Metropolitan Opera), Donna Anna/ Don Giovanni (Seattle), and Magda Sorel/ The Consul (Santa Barbara). ALFRED WALKER | FATHER Lyric debut This season, the bass-baritone returns to San Francisco Opera as Enobarbus in the world premiere of John Adams’s Antony and Cleopatra , joins the Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni , and sings Rachmaninoff’s The Bells with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. Last season, he joined San Francisco Opera as Scarpia in Tosca , returned to the Metropolitan Opera for further performances of Crown in Porgy and Bess , and joined Washington National Opera as Mtchll in It All Falls Down which is a part of Written In Stone , a tetralogy of one-act operas. He also sang Nalikantha in Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera, and sang Tom in Un ballo in maschera with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He recently joined Detroit Opera as Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana , San Francisco Opera for Father in Hansel and Gretel , and Boston Lyric Opera for Oroveso in Norma . Walker recently sang the title role in Der fliegende Holländer at Theater Basel and returned to the company for his first performances of both Amfortas in Parsifal and Amonasro in Aida . Other recent performances include Titurel in Parisfal and the Speaker in The Magic Flute with the Metropolitan Opera; the Ruler in Das Wunder der Heliane with Bard Summerscape; Orest in Elektra with San Francisco Opera; Amonasro in Aida and Porgy in Porgy and Bess with Seattle Opera; Méphistophélès in Faust with Portland Opera; Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde at Angers Nantes Opera and Opéra de Dijon; and his first performances of Wotan in Das Rheingold with North Carolina Opera. DENIS VÉLEZ | SANDMAN/DEW FAIRY Previously at Lyric: Thibault/ Don Carlos (2022/23) and Papagena/ The Magic Flute (2021/22). The soprano, a third-year Ryan Opera Center member from Puebla, Mexico, sang in Sunday in the Park with Lyric this summer. This season at Lyric, Vélez will also appear in Carmen . She was a national winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s 2020 Eric and Dominique Laffont Competition. In Mexico’s most important platform for rising talent, the National Singing Contest Carlo Morelli, her performance earned her the First Prize, the French Opera award, and the Francisco Araiza Special Award. In Spring 2021, she sang in the Harris Theater’s Beyond the Aria series alongside Joyce DiDonato, and previously appeared in Lyric’s 2020/21 virtual programs Pasión Latina , Sole e Amore , Magical Music Around the World , and Rising Stars in Concert . Denis Vélez is sponsored by The C.G.Pinnell Family. UNITING VOICES CHICAGO Previously at Lyric: 14 productions since 2000/01, most recently Tosca (2021/22) and The Queen of Spades (2019/20). Uniting Voices Chicago (Josephine Lee, president and artistic director), formerly Chicago Children’s Choir, is the nation’s preeminent youth choral organization, serving 5,200 students across the city of Chicago. Founded in Hyde Park in direct response to the Civil Rights Movement in 1956, UVC has grown from one choir into a vast network of in-school and after-school programs driven by one mission: to inspire and change lives through music. UVC has impacted the lives of more than 50,000 diverse youth throughout its 62-year history. Since its founding, UVC has focused on building programs that reflect the racial and economic diversity of Chicago. Eighty percent of youth served are from low-moderate income homes, with over 4,000 students annually participating completely free of charge. All singers in UVC programs receive some level of subsidy. High school seniors enrolled in UVC have a 100% graduation and college acceptance rate, becoming global ambassadors who carry on UVC’s core values in a wide array of professional fields. SIR ANDREW DAVIS | CONDUCTOR One of the world’s most acclaimed conductors, Sir Andrew Davis served as music director of Lyric Opera of Chicago from 2000 through the 2020/21 Season. Since his debut engagement at Lyric in the 1987/88 Season, he has conducted nearly 700 opera performances here, plus numerous special concerts, including the majority of Lyric’s free concerts in Millennium Park. The vast repertoire he has led at Lyric encompasses operas by Berg, Berlioz,