42ND STREET And More Announced For Chicago Lyric Opera 2019/20 Season!

A season filled with unforgettable music, riveting stories, thrilling singers from around the world, and stirring productions goes on sale by subscription Friday, January 25, at 10am. Six new and new-to-Chicago productions including three Lyric premieres and three performances of the Ring cycle will engage and entertain audiences from late September 2019 through June 2020.

Following the regular opera season, Lyric will present its new production of Wagner's magnificent Ring cycle in its entirety three times over the course of three weeks in April and early May of 2020.

New and renewing subscribers have first access to the best seats at the best prices. Since last year, Lyric has made it possible to purchase customized subscriptions that combine remaining performances of the current 2018/19 Season and performances in the new 2019/20 Season.

General Director, President & CEO Anthony Freud and Music Director Sir Andrew Davis announced today the repertoire and casting for the company's 2019/20 Season. "We are very excited about our productions and casts, and are confident that Lyric's audiences will greatly enjoy the range of musical and dramatic styles being offered here next season," Freud said.

Next season will include familiar operas and also relative rarities, including Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, which was the very first piece I conducted as Lyric's music director, almost two decades ago, said Davis. Longtime opera lovers and newcomers alike will find abundant pleasures and revelations in the works we'll present, which cover an enormous range, from Mozart to Heggie.

"We are very much looking forward to launching a multi-year series of some of Verdi's early operas, beginning with Luisa Miller. These early masterpieces are both musically and dramatically thrilling and provide great insights into Verdi's artistic development," Freud said.

"I am delighted to be presenting the Lyric premiere of Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally's Dead Man Walking," the general director noted. "Since its premiere in 2000, this powerful opera inspired by a true story has made a profound impact on audiences worldwide."

The casting for Lyric's 65th season is full of exceptional world-renowned artists. Said Freud, We will welcome back to Lyric an outstanding roster of singers, including Lawrence Brownlee, Joseph Calleja, Elizabeth DeShong, Christine Goerke, Susan Graham, Brandon Jovanovich, Quinn Kelsey, Amanda Majeski, Ana Mar a Mart nez, Eric Owens, Patricia Racette, Sondra Radvanovsky, and Christian Van Horn.

We are also thrilled to welcome several exciting artists who will make their Lyric debuts, Freud continued. These include Ildar Abdrazakov, Ben Bliss, Ying Fang, Lianna Haroutounian, Jane Henschel, Soloman Howard, Ryan McKinny, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and Rachel Willis-S rensen.

Sir Andrew Davis will conduct Rossini's The Barber of Seville to open Lyric's 65th season, returning for Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Wagner's G tterd mmerung, and all three Ring cycles.

Lyric's roster of guest conductors for the 2019/20 season includes Enrique Mazzola (Luisa Miller), Nicole Paiement (debut, Dead Man Walking), James Gaffigan (Don Giovanni), and Henrik N n si (Madama Butterfly).

The 2019/20 season will feature opera productions created by internationally acclaimed and award-winning directors including Rob Ashford (The Barber of Seville), Francesca Zambello (Luisa Miller), Leonard Foglia (Dead Man Walking), Robert Falls (Don Giovanni), Michael Grandage (Madama Butterfly), Richard Jones (The Queen of Spades), and David Pountney (G tterd mmerung and the full Ring cycle).

Lyric Unlimited, in its first collaboration with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, will present the Midwest premiere of Blue, a new opera by composer Jeanine Tesori and librettist Tazewell Thompson, Freud revealed. "Blue brings audiences into the emotional epicenter of an African-American family in which the father is a police officer and the son is a politically active teenager. Blue will have its world premiere at Glimmerglass Opera in 2019. Lyric's performances will take place at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in June 2020. What a wonderful opportunity to bring a new work to the city in a new venue for Lyric Unlimited performances.

Freud shared a statement from Barbara Gaines, Chicago Shakespeare's artistic director: Lyric Opera and Chicago Shakespeare have a shared commitment to exploring contemporary social issues on our stages. We're thrilled that our theater's newly expanded artistic home on Navy Pier allows us to support the work of the extraordinary creative team behind Blue by co-producing their important new work.

In December 2019 the outstanding soprano Sondra Radvanovsky will give three special semi-staged concert performances of The Three Queens, the thrilling, tour-de-force finales of Donizetti's Bel Canto masterpieces Anna Bolena, Maria Stuarda, and Roberto Devereux. "Sondra's command of this repertoire will astonish all who experience these performances," Freud declared. "The passion and glorious vocalism she brings to the coloratura fireworks of these operas is simply dazzling." The Lyric Opera Orchestra and Chorus, with artists from The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, will participate in these concerts, which are on select subscription series.

Legendary Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel will make his long-awaited return to Lyric for the first time in 15 years for a recital in February of 2020, his only Chicago-area appearance of the season. "Many longtime Lyric opera-goers have wonderful memories of Bryn's thrilling portrayals of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, and Sweeney Todd, among others, and will jump at the opportunity to hear his magnificent, expressive voice here again in an intimate recital."

Lyric's 2019/20 season concludes with the company premiere of the classic American musical 42nd Street in a gorgeous new-to-Chicago production from the Th tre du Ch telet in Paris that will have our audiences tap-dancing their way out of the theater, said Freud.

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.

Founded in 1954, 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 Ren e 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.

To learn more about Lyric's current season, go to lyricopera.org.

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