Lyric Opera 2022-2023 Issue 6 - Hansel and Gretel

Lyric Opera of Chicago | 26 Bizet, Britten, Dvorˇák, Gilbert and Sullivan, Gounod, Janáˇcek, Lehár, López, Massenet, Mozart, Mussorgsky, Poulenc, Puccini, Rossini, Strauss, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, Wagner, and Weinberg. His special performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 last season marked the first time the work was performed on the Lyric stage. During the 2019/20 Season, Sir Andrew conducted The Barber of Seville and The Queen of Spades at Lyric. Other recent highlights include appearances with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (numerous works including most prominently Massenet’s Thaïs ), Washington’s National Symphony Orchestra (Handel’s Messiah in Sir Andrew’s own orchestration), and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Tippett and Beethoven). Sir Andrew returns to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra this spring for the world premiere of Emilie LeBel’s the sediments and works of Strauss and Beethoven. From 2013 to 2019 Maestro Davis served as principal conductor of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Since December 2019 he has continued his artistic role there as conductor laureate. Among his major achievements in the 2018/19 Season were performances of Idomeneo , a new production of Siegfried , and the company premiere of Cendrillon at Lyric; Duruflé’s Requiem with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Götterdämmerung at the Edinburgh International Festival; and Elgar’s The Music Makers at the BBC Proms. Maestro Davis’s career spans nearly five decades, during which he has been the artistic leader at several of the world’s most distinguished opera and symphonic institutions, including the BBC Symphony Orchestra (conductor laureate; chief conductor, 1989- 2000); Glyndebourne Festival Opera (music director, 1988-2000); and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (conductor laureate; principal conductor, 1975-1988), where he served as interim artistic director 2018 through 2020. In addition, he holds the honorary title of conductor emeritus at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Sir Andrew has led performances at many of the world’s most important opera houses, among them the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, London’s Royal Opera House, the Bayreuth Festival, and the major companies of Munich, Paris, San Francisco, and Santa Fe. In addition to those ensembles, he has appeared with virtually every other internationally prominent orchestra, including the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and all the major British orchestras. In 1992, Maestro Davis was made a Commander of the British Empire, and in 1999 he was designated a Knight Bachelor in the New Year Honours List. RICHARD JONES | ORIGINAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: Five productions since 2000/01, most recently The Queen of Spades (2019/20) and Ariodante and La bohème (both 2018/19). The British director debuted at London’s Royal Opera House directing the acclaimed 1994 Ring cycle. He has returned for eight productions, most recently Katya Kabanova . Among his 11 opera productions this season are L’enfant et les sortilèges (Paris), Ariodante (Valencia), and Jephtha (Berlin). Other major productions have included Hansel and Gretel (Welsh National Opera, Metropolitan Opera); The Trojans (English National Opera); Falstaff , Macbeth , and Flight (Glyndebourne); Pelléas et Mélisande and Lohengrin (Munich); Peter Grimes (La Scala); and La bohème (Bregenz). Jones’s work in theater includes The Hairy Ape (Old Vic and New York—nominated for six Drama Desk Awards); The Trial , Public Enemy , The Government Inspector , Annie Get Your Gun , and The Good Soul of Szechuan (all for the Young Vic); and productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National Theatre, London’s West End, and Broadway. A Tony nominee, Jones is the winner of five Olivier Awards. He was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 2015. ERIC EINHORN | REVIVAL DIRECTOR Previously at Lyric: I puritani (2017/18) and Hansel and Gretel (2012/13). Einhorn is the co-founding General & Artistic Director of On Site Opera, the country’s only opera company dedicated to site-specific productions. He has created partnerships with venues and institutions throughout New York City that range from community gardens, historic homes, and restaurants, to the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among the numerous productions he has created for On Site are Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt (world premiere), Amahl and the Night Visitors , Morning Star , The Turn of the Screw , Murasaki’s Moon (world premiere), and La finta giardiniera . For Lyric Unlimited in 2014/15, he directed and co- adapted The Property , and in 2018/19 he directed Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt for Opera in the Neighborhoods . Elsewhere, Einhorn has directed at many of the country’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera ( Hansel and Gretel , La cenerentola , Rigoletto ), Glimmerglass Festival ( Così fan tutte ), Pittsburgh Opera ( Xerxes , Dialogues des Carmélites , Don Pasquale ), Fort Worth Opera ( Giulio Cesare ), Wolf Trap Opera ( Alcina , Così fan tutte ), Florentine Opera ( Turandot ), Austin Opera ( Der fliegende Holländer , Dialogues des Carmélites ), Utah Opera ( Fidelio ), and Detroit Opera ( Brundibár ). He has also created new productions of Tosca , Turandot , and Orff’s Carmina Burana for the Pacific Symphony. JOHN MACFARLANE | SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER Previously at Lyric: Five productions since 2001/02, most recently Macbeth (2021/22) and The Queen of Spades (2019/20). Among the Scottish designer’s extensive opera credits are Tosca (Metropolitan Opera), Benvenuto Cellini (Geneva), Hansel and Gretel (Welsh National Opera, Metropolitan Opera), The Queen of Spades (WNO), War and Peace and La clemenza di Tito (Paris), Agrippina (Brussels), Boris Godunov (Amsterdam), Euryanthe (Glyndebourne), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cologne), Les Troyens (English National Opera), Don Giovanni (Brussels, San Francisco), Idomeneo (Vienna), and Maria Stuarda (Metropolitan Opera). At Lyric, Macfarlane also designed Elektra (2018/19, 2012/13) and Rusalka