Lyric Opera's Ryan Opera Center Sets Singers for 2016-17 Ensemble

Dan Novak, director of The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center at Lyric Opera of Chicago, is pleased to announce that soprano Ann Toomey and mezzo-soprano Lauren Decker have been accepted into the prestigious program for its 2016-17 Ensemble.

These singers will join current Ryan Opera Center sopranos Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi and Diana Newman; mezzo-sopranos Lindsay Metzger and Annie Rosen; tenors Alec Carlson, Jesse Donner, Jonathan Johnson, and Mingjie Lei; baritone Takaoki Onishi; and basses Patrick Guetti and Bradley Smoak.

The 2016-17 Ensemble singers are natives of California, Connecticut, Georgia, Hengyang (Hunan Province, China), Illinois, Iowa (2), KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa), Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tokyo (Japan), and Wisconsin.

All of the singers were selected at the Ryan Opera Center's Final Auditions held on Sunday, September 20, in the Ardis Krainik Theatre of the Civic Opera House. For the third year, Lyric Opera donors and subscribers were invited to the Final Auditions, and more than 500 attended the proceedings. Lyric's dramaturg Roger Pines served as master of ceremonies for the day, and the audience was treated to a performance by Ryan Opera Center alumnus Christian Van Horn, who will appear in Lyric's 2015-16 season in Rossini's Cinderella and Gounod's Romeo and Juliet, accompanied by Ryan Opera Center pianist Mario Antonio Marra. Lyric's general director Anthony Freud, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and director of artistic planning Andreas Melinat joined Novak, as well as the Ryan Opera Center's music director Craig Terry and director of vocal studies Julia Faulkner, in serving as judges for the day.

Generous support for the Final Auditions was provided by Lead Sponsor The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation and Sponsor The Cozad Family. The National Audition Tour is sponsored by American Airlines, Official Airline of Lyric Opera of Chicago.

Current Ryan Opera Center members who will depart after the 2015-16 season are soprano Laura Wilde, baritone Anthony Clark Evans, and bass-baritone Richard Ollarsaba.

Each year The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, the professional artist-development program of Lyric Opera of Chicago, selects gifted young singers from some 400 applicants. Soon after arriving at Lyric in the spring, incoming Ryan Opera Center members begin an intensive full-year residency under the guidance of Novak, Terry, Faulkner, advisor Renée Fleming, and numerous other opera professionals. Coaching sessions and master classes are augmented by performance and understudy experience in Lyric's regular season productions as well as other Ryan Opera Center concerts and recitals.

About Lyric

Founded in 1954, Lyric Opera of Chicago's mission is to express and promote the life-changing, transformational, revelatory power of great opera. Lyric exists to provide a broad, deep, and relevant cultural service to Chicago and the nation, and to advance the development of the art form.

Lyric is dedicated to producing and performing consistently thrilling, entertaining, and thought-provoking opera with a balanced repertoire of core classics, lesser-known masterpieces, and new works; to creating an innovative and wide-ranging program of community engagement and educational activities; and to developing exceptional emerging operatic talent.

Under the leadership of general director Anthony Freud, music director Sir Andrew Davis, and creative consultant Renée Fleming, Lyric strives to become The Great North American Opera Company for the 21st century: a globally significant arts organization embodying the core values of excellence, relevance, and fiscal responsibility.

Visit LYRICOPERA.ORG for complete 2015-16 season and ticketing information.

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