Ravinia 2023 Issue 5

CHRIS SINGER (PÉREZ) MARTIN THEATRE 7:30 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2023 AILYN PÉREZ, soprano KEVIN MURPHY, piano See tonight’s insert for complete program information. KEVIN MURPHY For Kevin Murphy’s biography, see page 31. PAVILION 8:00 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 2023 CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA JOSHUA WEILERSTEIN, conductor † ALISA WEILERSTEIN, cello STILL Poem for Orchestra * ELGAR Cello Concerto Adagio—Moderato [ attacca ] Allegro molto Adagio Allegro—Moderato—Allegro, ma non troppo Alisa Weilerstein –Intermission– SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 Moderato Allegretto Largo Allegro non troppo † Ravinia debut * First performance at Ravinia AILYN PÉREZ Celebrated as a leading soprano even before becoming the first Hispanic recipient of the Richard Tucker Award in 2012, Chicago na- tive Ailyn Pérez has continued to advance her repertoire with multiple highly anticipated role debuts across the 2022–23 season. She is in the midst of her first performances as Dvořák’s titular Rusalka at Sante Fe Opera, and this past fall she took the Teatro di San Carlo stage with her first Elisabetta di Valois in Verdi’s Don Carlo . Pérez made two appear- ances at the Metropolitan Opera this year: in her debut as Blanche in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites , then reprising her acclaimed 2019 turn as Alice Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff . Season highlights also included singing her signature role of Mimì in Puccini’s La bohème at three different venues: the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden, Berlin State Opera, and Opéra national de Paris. During the 2021–22 season, Pérez made her first Puccini Tosca at San Fran- cisco Opera as well as her debut as Tatiana in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin at the Met, and she returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago starring as Adina in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love . The soprano also tallied two runs as Mimì, for her debut at Madrid’s Teatro Real and at the Bavarian State Opera, and appeared in the title role of Massenet’s Manon with Opéra national de Paris. Among her career highlights are turns as Violetta in Verdi’s La traviata at Teatro alla Scala, the Bavarian, Berlin, and Hamburg State Operas, San Francisco Opera, Opernhaus Zürich, and Cov- ent Garden, where she made her role debut as Liù in Puccini’s Turandot , and creating the role of Tatyana Bakst in Jake Heggie’s Great Scott with Dallas Opera. At the Met, Pérez has sung the title roles of Massenat’s Thaïs and Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette , as well as both Mimì and Musetta in La bohème , and portrayals of Adina have brought her to Deutsche Oper Berlin, Washington National, and the Bavarian and Vienna State Operas. Ailyn Pérez made her Ravinia debut in 2010 stepping in as the Countess in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and returned in 2012 as Pamina in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and in 2014 as Zerlina in Don Giovanni . RAVINIA MAGAZINE • AUGUST 15 – AUGUST 27, 2023 24 I I