Photo Flash: First Look at Tatiana Serjan, Elizabeth DeShong, and More in Chicago Lyric Opera's NABUCCO

Lyric Opera of Chicago presents Nabucco, Giuseppe Verdi's twisted tale of politics, power, forbidden love, and religion, best known for its stirring chorus "Va, pensiero." Nabucco opens tomorrow night, Saturday, January 23 for seven performances through February 12. Check out a first look below!

Željko Lu?i? portrays the tyrannical title-role Babylonian king, and Tatiana Serjan is his power-hungry daughter Abigaille who covets his throne and the lover of her sister Fenena (Elizabeth DeShong), Ismaele (Sergey Skorokhodov/debut). Dmitry Belosselskiy (debut) portrays Zaccaria, the fiery Hebrew prophet. Stefan Szkafarowsky portrays the High Priest of the Babylonians. Carlo Rizzi conducts, and Matthew Ozawa (Lyric directorial debut) directs the production designed by Michael Yeargan (sets), Jane Greenwood(costumes), and Duane Schuler (lighting). Michael Black is chorus master.

"We have a real Rolls-Royce cast," says Anthony Freud, Lyric's general director. "Nabucco is exceptionally hard to cast these days, and our principal singers are sensational. Chicago audiences thrilled to Željko in our Rigoletto and Tatiana and Dmitry in the CSO's Macbeth, and of course Tatiana also made a huge impression in last season's Tosca." He adds that "it's wonderful to have Elizabeth DeShong back at Lyric - she's a Lyric Ryan Opera Center alumna and a terrific Fenena. Sergey Skorokhodov's debut will be exciting for our audience. We also have one of the greatest chorus masters in the world, and Nabucco features the expanded chorus of 82 - 35 women and 47 men - in nearly every scene."

Photo Credit: Cory Weaver, Andrew Cioffi