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P R O F I L E S | L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
22
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December 7, 2015 - January 17, 2016
WILLIAM BURDEN
(
Rubén Iglesias
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Flamand/
Capriccio
(2014-
15); Alwa/
Lulu
(2008-09);
Tybalt and Romeo/
Romeo
and Juliet
(1998-99).
The American tenor has
earned an outstanding international reputation
in a wide-ranging repertoire, including the
leading tenor roles of
Faust
,
Pelléas et Mélisande
,
The Rake’s Progress
,
Roméo et Juliette
,
Acis and
Galatea
,
Billy Budd
,
Carmen
, and
Eugene One-
gin
. Burden has performed with virtually every
major American opera company, while also
earning high praise abroad at La Scala, the
leading houses of Munich, Paris, Berlin, and
Madrid, and the Saito Kinen Festival. Appear-
ances in 2015-16 include Loge/
Das Rheingold
(Washington) and Laca/
Jenůfa
(San Fran-
cisco). Among his most recent portrayals have
been the Podestà/
La finta giardiniera
(Santa
Fe) and Edgardo/
Lucia di Lammermoor
(New
Orleans). As celebrated for contemporary
opera as for standard repertoire, Burden has
triumphed in Berg’s
Lulu
(Lyric, Amsterdam),
Mark Adamo’s
The Gospel of Mary Magda-
lene
(San Francisco, world premiere), Henze’s
Phaedra
(Philadelphia, U.S. premiere), and
Kevin Puts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning
Silent
Night
(St. Paul world premiere, reprise in
Philadelphia), among many other musically
demanding works. His concert engagements
include the major orchestras of Chicago, Phila-
delphia, St. Louis, Houston, Atlanta, Berlin,
and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Burden
has recorded
Vanessa
(BBCSO) and is featured
on DVD in
Don Giovanni
(Glyndebourne)
and
The Tempest
(Met).
ANTHONY ROTH
COSTANZO
(
César
)
Lyric Opera debut
The New York-based coun-
tertenor has successfully
appeared in opera, concert,
recital, film, and on Broad-
way. In recent seasons, Costanzo has sung at the
Metropolitan Opera (Ferdinand and Prospero/
The Enchanted Island
, world premiere, Unulfo/
Rodelinda,
Orlofsky/
Die Fledermaus
), Eng-
lish National Opera (
The Indian Queen
), San
Francisco Opera (
Partenope
),
and at Carnegie
Hall, Glyndebourne, Teatro Real, Canadian
Opera Company, Opera Philadelphia, New
York City Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, and
Michigan Opera Theatre, among many others.
Additional recent appearances include Prince
Go-Go in the New York Philharmonic’s huge-
ly acclaimed production of Ligeti’s
Le Grand
Macabre
. The countertenor’s current season
includes London’s English National Opera
(title role/Philip Glass’s
Akhnaten
), The Dal-
las Opera (Jake Heggie’s
Great Scott
, world
premiere) and with the International Contem-
porary Ensemble at the Metropolitan Museum
of Art. He also collaborates with director Peter
Sellars at California’s Ojai Festival. Costanzo
graduated from Princeton University where he
has returned to teach, and received his master’s
from Manhattan School of Music. He won
first place in Operalia, and is a Grand Finals
winner of the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions.
JACQUES IMBRAILO
(
Joachim Messner
)
Lyric Opera debut
The South African bari-
tone studied at the Royal
College of Music under
Ryland Davies and with
the highly prestigious
Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Among
his most important Covent Garden roles
have been Count Almaviva/
The Marriage of
Figaro
, Malatesta/
Don Pasquale
, Schaunard/
La bohéme
, Demetrius/
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream,
and the title role/
Owen Wingrave
.
Imbrailo has made a strong impression inter-
nationally in Mozart roles: Guglielmo/
Così fan
tutte
(Houston Grand Opera), Count Alma-
viva (Welsh National Opera, Opéra de Lille),
the title role/
Don Giovanni
(Scottish Opera),
and Papageno/
The Magic Flute
(WNO). He
also appeared in repertoire as diverse as Aeneas/
Dido and Aeneas
(Rome’s Teatro dell’Opera),
Figaro/
The Barber of Seville
(WNO), Val-
entin/
Faust
(Baden-Baden), Pelléas/
Pelléas et
Mélisande
(WNO, Essen, DVD), and Tar-
quinius/
The Rape of Lucretia
(Houston). The
baritone has earned particular acclaim as
Billy Budd (Glyndebourne, Brooklyn Acad-
emy of Music, Dutch National Opera, CD,
DVD). Among his concert credits are
Carmina
Burana
(New York Philharmonic), Britten’s
War Requiem
(Madrid’s Teatro Real), Bach’s
St. John Passion
, Handel’s
Messiah
, Brahms’s
Requiem
, and numerous solo Lieder recitals.
Imbrailo was awarded the Audience Prize at
the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World
competition.
JOHN IRVIN
(
Christopf
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Eleven roles since 2012-
13, most recently Third
SS Officer/
The Passenger
,
Lord Hervey/
Anna Bolena
,
Servant/
Capriccio
(all
2014-15).
In 2015 the tenor, a Georgia native and for-
mer Ryan Opera Center member, appeared
in
La traviata
with the Los Angeles Philhar-
monic at The Hollywood Bowl and scored
a great success as Matthew Gurney/Tobias
Picker’s
Emmeline
at Opera Theatre of Saint
Louis. Irvin studied as a pianist at Florida
State University before switching to singing
at Georgia State University (Don José/
Car-
men
) and Boston University’s Opera Institute
(Chevalier/
Dialogues des Carmélites
, Paolino/
Il
matrimonio segreto
, Roméo/
Roméo et Juliette
,
Nick/
The Postman Always Rings Twice
). In
recent seasons, Irvin has debuted with the Los
Angeles Philharmonic (Curzio/
The Marriage
of Figaro
), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(
Beyond the Score
, Berlioz’s
Symphonie Fantas-
tique
), and the Melbourne Symphony Orches-
tra (Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 9
). A former
member of the Central City Opera and Santa
Fe Opera apprentice-artist programs, he is a
2011 Metropolitan Opera National Council
Auditions regional finalist, a 2012 Liederkranz
Foundation I.V.C. finalist, and the recipient
of numerous awards, including the 2012 Kahn
Career Entry Award.
RÚNI BRATTABERG
(
Victor
Fyodorov
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Titurel/
Parsifal
(2013-14).
The Faroese bass stars this
season in six major roles
at Leipzig Opera, among
them Hagen, Gurnemanz,
and Sarastro. Brattaberg first worked as a
professional documentary photographer for
eight years, before training as a singer at
Helsinki’s Sibelius Akademia and Zurich’s
International Opera Studio. Brattaberg began
his singing career in the ensembles of the
Mainz, Ulm, Detmold, Bern, and Mannheim
opera companies, building his repertoire with
Wagner (Gurnemanz, Hagen, Hunding, Faf-
ner, Pogner, Heinrich) and other leading bass
roles such as Osmin/
The Abduction from the
Seraglio
, Timur/
Turandot
, Sparafucile/
Rigo-
letto
, Sarastro/
The Magic Flute
, Kaspar/
Der
Freischütz
, the Doctor/
Wozzeck
, Rocco/
Fide-
lio
, and Basilio/
The Barber of Seville
. In 2011,