Ravinia 2019, Issue 4, Week 8

MICHELLE DEYOUNG, mezzo-soprano Growing up in Colorado and California, mez- zo-soprano Michelle DeYoung was surrounded by music from an early age with a family that was talented in many areas of performing. She at- tended California State University–Northridge, designing her own study regimen that included several aspects of the arts, and in 1992 she won the Metropolitan Opera National Auditions and has remained a regular cast member at the Met ever since. A prototypical Wagnerian singer, DeYoung has portrayed many of the compos- er’s roles, including Kundry in Parsifal , Venus in Tannhäuser , Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde , and Fricka, Sieglinde, and Waltraute in the four-op- era cycle Der Ring des Nibelung . Her credits also include Strauss’s Salome (Herodias), Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust (Marguerite) and Les Troy- ens (Didon), Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Delilah (female lead), Verdi’s Don Carlos (Eboli) and Aida (Amneris), Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle (Ju- dith), Thomas’s Hamlet (Gertrude), Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex (Jocaste), and Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia (title role), and she created the role of the Shaman in Tan Dun’s The First Emperor . DeYoung made her English National Opera de- but last season, and in 2015 she was a resident artist at Wolf Trap Opera. In addition to the Met, she has regularly performed with the opera companies of Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Seattle, Berlin, Paris, and Tokyo, as well as at Milan’s La Scala, Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, and Germany’s Bayreuth Festival. DeYoung has been a featured artist on two Grammy-winning recordings: Les Troyens with Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra (2002) and Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder and Symphony No. 3 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Fran- cisco Symphony (2004). Her honors also include the Marian Anderson Award (1995) and an hon- orary doctorate from her alma mater (2010). Michelle DeYoung attended Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in 1995, making her main-stage debut at the festival the following year, and she was a member of the RSMI faculty in 2013 and 2016. Tonight she returns for her ninth season at Ravinia. KELLEY O’CONNOR, mezzo-soprano Having trained her voice through the music pro- grams of USC and UCLA, mezzo-soprano Kel- ley O’Connor has cultivated a signature concert repertoire. She originated the role of Federico García Lorca in Osvaldo Golijov’s Ainadamar at Tanglewood in 2003 and has reprised the per- formance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at Lincoln Center, and with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra on the Grammy-winning Deutsche Grammophon recording and at Ravinia in 2006. O’Connor is just as closely associated with the ti- tle role of John Adams’s The Gospel According to the Other Mary , having performed in stage and concert versions of the work under the batons of Gustavo Dudamel, Grant Gershon (including at Ravinia in 2013), Simon Rattle, David Rob- ertson, Gianandrea Noseda, and most recently the composer for her debut with the Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. She is also the leading interpreter of Peter Lieberson’s Neruda Songs , performing the cycle alongside such ensembles as the Berlin Philharmonic, Chi- cago Symphony Orchestra, Minnesota Orches- tra, (US) National Symphony Orchestra, Zurich’s Tonhalle Orchestra, and, this past season, the Saint Louis and Colorado Symphony Orchestras. Frequently sought out by contemporary compos- ers, O’Connor premiered Joby Talbot’s A Sheen of Dew on Flowers with the Britten Sinfonia earlier this season, also making her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut as a soloist in Bernstein’s Song- fest and essaying the title role of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in a new production with Boston Lyr- ic Opera. Her recent concert credits also include Mahler’s Second and Third Symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde , and Des knaben Wunderhorn , Bryce Dessner’s Voy a Dormir , Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Ravel’s Shéhérazade , and Berio’s Folk Songs . On the opera stage, O’Connor has por- trayed Mercédès in Bizet’s Carmen with Los An- geles Opera, Smeton in Donizetti’s Anna Bolena and Hippolyta in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Lyric Opera of Chicago, Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly with Boston Lyric Opera and Cincinnati Opera, and Meg in Verdi’s Falstaff with Santa Fe Opera. Kelley O’Connor made her Ravinia debut in 2006 and is returning for her fourth season at the festival. JOSEPH KAISER, tenor AMontreal native, tenor Joseph Kaiser joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center in 2004, later performing in the company’s princi- pal casts of Poulenc’s Dialogues des carmélites , J. Strauss Jr.’s Die Fledermaus , R. Strauss’s Salome , and Gounod’s Faust and Roméo et Juliette . He has since made several appearances at the Metropol- itan Opera, debuting in 2007 in the title role of Roméo et Juliette and most recently starring as Edmundo in the company premiere of Thom- as Adès’s The Exterminating Angel under the composer’s baton. His Met credits also include Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute , Narraboth in Salome and Flamand in R. Strauss’s Capriccio , Grimoaldo in Handel’s Rodelina , Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and Števa Buryja in Janáček’s Jenůfa . This past season Kaiser joined the Canadian Opera Company for a new production of Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin in the role of Lensky and reprised Števa in Jenůfa with the Bavarian State Opera. He also performed in the premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s The Phoenix by Houston Grand Opera and made his role debut as Loge in Wagner’s Das Rheingold at the Ma- drid’s Teatro Real. Kaiser’s opera highlights also include his role debut as Britten’s titular Peter Grimes at Theater an der Wien, the title role of Mozart’s Idomeneo at Opernhaus Zürich, Lensky in Eugene Onegin and Flamand in Capriccio with Paris National Opera, Narraboth in Salome at the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Matteo in R. Strauss’s Arabella with Bavarian State Opera, Admète in Gluck’s Alceste at Vienna State Op- era, and Walter in Weinberg’s The Passenger with Houston Grand Opera and the Lincoln Center Festival. On the concert stage, over the past cou- ple seasons Kaiser has been a soloist in Beetho- ven’s Ninth Symphony with the Boston Sympho- ny Orchestra, Beethoven’s Fidelio (as Florestan) with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Los Angeles Phil- harmonic, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex at the Baltic Sea Festival, Bernstein’s A Quiet Place with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, and a recital with Adès at Carnegie Hall. Joseph Kaiser was a fellow at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute in 2002 and to- night makes his fourth return to the festival. JULY 22 – JULY 28, 2019 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE 103