For the last several seasons, Lyric Opera of Chicago audiences have been given glimpses, some tantalizing, of the artistic vision general director Anthony Freud will be bringing to the company through the end of the decade.
While such ambitious projects as the Midwest premiere of Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s “The Passenger,” this season, and a new Wagner “Ring” cycle, beginning in 2016-17, clearly have Freud’s fingerprints all over them, most of what Lyric audiences have seen and heard since Freud arrived in 2011 reflected the repertory and casting decisions of his predecessor, William Mason.
The Anthony Freud era will begin in earnest with Lyric’s 2015-16 season, the first to have been fully planned by Freud and music director Andrew Davis. Both directors were present for a news conference Monday morning at the Civic Opera House to announce the operas and castings for the company’s 61st season, Sept. 26 to May 22.
The nine-production season will open with a new Lyric staging of Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro,” to be directed by Barbara Gaines, artistic director of Chicago Shakespeare Theater. and conducted by newcomer Henrik Nanasi.
Two other original productions also will grace the season.
Alban Berg’s “Wozzeck” will receive a new staging by David McVicar, with Davis conducting his first-ever performances of the 20th century masterpiece, which has been absent from the Lyric repertory since 1994.
The other new production will be Lyric’s previously announced world premiere of “Bel Canto,” with music by Jimmy Lopez and libretto by Nilo Cruz. The opera is based on Ann Patchett’s best-selling novel, which was inspired by the Peruvian hostage crisis of 1996-97. Davis will conduct, with staging by Kevin Newbury. Soprano Danielle de Niese will take the starring role of Roxane Coss, an American operatic diva. A real-life American diva, soprano Renee Fleming, Lyric’s creative consultant, curated the project..
Fleming will assume the title role in the first seven performances next season of Lehar’s “The Merry Widow,” one of six productions new to Chicago in the coming season. She will share the title role with Elizabeth Futral in a production directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman that debuted last month at the Metropolitan Opera. Davis will pace the operetta, with Thomas Hampson portraying Count Danilo.
Other new-to-Chicago productions will be Rossini’s “La Cenerentola,” Verdi’s “Nabucco,” Richard Strauss’ “Der Rosenkavalier” and Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette.” “The King and I” will be the fourth show in Lyric’s multiyear cycle of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals.
Rounding out the season will be two special concerts. Superstar tenor-turned-baritone Placido Domingo will make an overdue return to Lyric in a concert with soprano Ana Maria Martinez on Jan. 9, accompanied by Davis and the Lyric Opera Orchestra. And Siberian baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky will give a recital at Lyric on Feb. 26, 2016.
If perhaps not as starry as some previous seasons, the roster will include such favorite singers as Amanda Majeski, Susanna Phillips, Tatiana Serjan, Isabel Leonard, Sophie Koch, Alice Coote, Joseph Calleja, William Burden, Eric Cutler, Zeljko Lucic, Luca Pisaroni and Alessandro Corbelli.
Company debuts will include singers Angela Denoke, Heidi Stober, Lawrence Brownlee, Dmitry Belosselskiy and Anthony Roth Costanzo; also conductors Edward Gardner, music director of London’s English National Opera; and Henrik Nanasi, general music director of Berlin’s Komische Oper. Podium returnees are Carlo Rizzi and Emmanuel Villaume.
All in all, 2015-16 amounts to one of the most interesting, diverse and well-balanced seasons Lyric has offered in quite a while, complete with productions that promise a wide range of concepts and visual styles.
Freud took time during Monday’s media gathering to reflect on the shifting dynamic and demographics of opera audiences over the last 10-15 years.
He noted that “the jury is still out” over whether or not the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” movie theater broadcasts have increased the audience for opera in opera houses, given the lack of reliable field data. (Lyric has not made the video-broadcast plunge.)
“One of the issues we, along with other opera companies around the world, have noticed is that even the most popular pieces, such as ‘La Traviata’ or ‘Tosca,’ no longer sell themselves,” he said. “One of the consequences of the rapidly changing atmosphere of today’s society – social, economic, political – is that it really has an impact on every organization. We can’t assume anymore that ‘La Boheme’ will automatically sell out, any more than we can assume ‘Wozzeck’ will be as problematic with audiences as it was years ago.
“Nowadays, frankly, all bets are off.”
Lyric’s 2015-16 season at a glance
— Most roles in the season-opening “Marriage of Figaro” will be filled by singers making their Lyric debuts, including Adam Plachetka as Figaro, Christiane Karg as Susanna and Rachel Frenkel as Cherubino. Count and Countess Almaviva will be portrayed by Luca Pisaroni and Amanda Majeski. Henrik Nanasi conducts. Director Barbara Gaines’ design team consists of James Noone (sets), Susan Mickey (costumes) and Robert Wierzel (lighting). Eight performances, Sept 26-Oct. 24.
— Rossini’s version of the “Cinderella” fairy tale will star Isabel Leonard in the title role, Lawrence Brownlee as Prince Ramiro, Alessandro Corbelli as Don Magnifico, Vito Priante as Dandini and Christian Van Horn as Alidoro. Andrew Davis will pace a production from Houston Grand Opera directed by Joan Font. Eight performances, Oct. 4-30.
— Taking the title role in Berg’s “Wozzeck” will be baritone Tomasz Konieczny, with Angela Denoke as Marie, Gerhard Siegel as the Captain, Stefan Vinke as the Drum Major and Brindley Sherratt as the Doctor. The designers are Vicki Mortimer and Paule Constable. Six performances, Nov. 1-21.
— “The Merry Widow” will be Lyric’s pre-holiday entertainment, presented in an English translation by Jeremy Sams. Joining Renee Fleming, Elizabeth Futral and Thomas Hampson in the cast will be Heidi Stober as Valencienne and Michael Spyres as Camille. Davis conducts, and Susan Stroman will double as director and choreographer. Ten performances, Nov. 14-Dec. 13.
— Lyric will field a large ensemble cast for “Bel Canto” that includes J’nai Bridges, Jeoncheol Cha, Andrew Stenson, Rafael Davila, Jacque Imbrailo, William Burden and Anthony Roth Costanzo. The conductor and director are Davis and Kevin Newbury, respectively. The show will be designed by David Korins (sets), Constance Hoffmann (costumes) and Duane Schuler (lighting). The opera will be sung in Spanish, English, Japanese, Russian, German and Quechua, with projected English titles. Seven performances, Dec. 7-Jan. 17.
— Verdi’s “Nabucco” will return in a Lyric co-production with Milan’s La Scala, London’s Royal Opera and Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. Zeljko Lucic will take the title role, with Tatiana Serjan as Abigaille, Dmitry Belosselskiy as Zaccaria, Elizabeth DeShong as Fenena and Sergey Skorokhodov as Ismaele. Carlo Rizzi is the conductor, Daniele Abbado the stage director. Seven performances, Jan. 23-Feb. 12.
— Sophie Koch and Alice Coote will share the role of Octavian, the eponymous rose-bearer, in “Der Rosenkavalier.” Majeski will sing the Marschallin, with Christina Landshamer as Sophie, Matthew Rise as Baron Ochs, Martin Gantner as Faninal and Rene Barbera as the Italian Singer. Edward Gardner leads the vintage Otto Schenk production from the Bavarian State Opera, Munich. Eight performances, Feb. 8-March 13.
— There will be more role-sharing in Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” with Joseph Calleja and Eric Cutler each finding romantic bliss with Susanna Phillips’ Juliet. Friar Laurence will be sung by Christian Van Horn. Pacing director Bartlett Sher’s Metropolitan Opera production will be Emmanuel Villaume. Nine performances, Feb. 22-March 19.
— “The King and I” will complete the Lyric season with 23 performances running April 29-May 22. Casting and production details will be announced later.
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