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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
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December 7, 2015 - January 17, 2016
Connecticut, the mezzo-soprano is appearing
later this season in Lyric’s production of
Der
Rosenkavalier
. She joined the Metropolitan
Opera roster during the 2013-14 season for
Die Frau ohne Schatten
before returning to the
apprentice program of The Santa Fe Opera.
Rosen has appeared at the Caramoor Festi-
val and as an emerging artist with the New
York Festival of Song. As the 2012 recipient
of the Opera Foundation’s American Berlin
Scholarship, Rosen performed 12 roles at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin (among them Second
Lady/
The Magic Flute
, Mercédès/
Carmen
, and
Sméraldine/
The Love of Three Oranges
). She
has also sung Giannetta/
L’elisir d’amore
at
Turin’s Teatro Regio. A highlight of her non-
operatic appearances includes last season’s fully
staged New York City production of György
Kurtág’s
Kafka Fragments.
A graduate of Yale
University and Mannes College, the mezzo-
soprano holds awards from the Gerda Lissner
Foundation, The Santa Fe Opera, Central City
Opera, the Connecticut Opera Guild, and the
Shoshana Foundation.
Annie Rosen is sponsored
by
Friends of Oliver Dragon.
ALEC CARLSON
(
Ismael
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Soldier/
Wozzeck
(2015-16).
A first-year Ryan Opera
Center member and a
native of Red Oak, Iowa,
the tenor will return to the Lyric opera stage
later this season for
Der Rosenkavalier
. Carlson
was an apprentice artist as part of The Santa Fe
Opera’s 2014 program. He also has participated
in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal
Academy and was a studio artist at Wolf Trap
Opera Company in 2013. Carlson received
his bachelor of arts degree in music from
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, followed by
a master’s degree in voice performance at the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory
of Music. In his time at the UCC-CM, Carl-
son appeared in the roles of Ernesto/
Don
Pasquale
, as the Royal Herald in a concert
performance of
Don Carlos
, and tenor soloist
in a staged production of J.S. Bach’s
St. John
Passion
. Last year he was both a Seybold-
Russell Award winner (CCM Opera Compe-
tition) and an encouragement award winner
of the Metropolitan Opera National Council
District Auditions.
Alec Carlson is sponsored by
Stepan Company.
KIMBERLY McCORD
(
German Diplomat
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Baroness Elberfeld/
The
Sound of Music
(2013-14).
The American soprano,
a Lyric Opera Chorus
member, has earned
critical acclaim in Chicago with Chicago
Folks Operetta (title roles/Leo Fall’s
Madame
Pompadour
and
The Rose of Stambul
, the latter
available on CD), Haymarket Opera (Purcell’s
Dido, the Handel Week Festival (title roles/
Semele
and
Rodelindal,
with Cleopatra
/Giulio
Cesare
scheduled for later this season), and
Music of the Baroque. She has also been
featured with the Peninsula Music Festival
and the Alabama Symphony. Highlights of her
many European appearances include Medée/
Lully’s
Thesée
on tour with William Christie
and Les Arts Florissants, Dido with the Gabrieli
Consort, and Créuse/Charpentier’s
Medée
at
the Dartington Festival. She has recorded
Bach’s
Magnificat
and Easter Oratorio
with the
Gabrieli Consort, Paul McCreesh conducting.
Among her other oratorio performances are
Messiah
(Croydon Bach Society) and Handel’s
Israel in Egypt
(Dutch Bach Society).
HOSS BROCK
(
Spanish Ambassador to
Peru
)
Previously at Lyric Opera
:
Ensemble/
Carousel
(2014-
15); Baron Elberfeld/
The
Sound of Music
(2013-14);
Skidmore/
Oklahoma!
(2012-13).
A member of the Lyric Opera Chorus, the
American tenor will return to the Lyric stage
later this season in Lyric’s revival of
Der Rosen-
kavalier
. He has previously been seen on
the Lyric stage as Ike Skidmore/
Oklahoma,
Baron Elberfeld/T
he Sound of Music,
and in
the Ensemble of
Carousel
. The current season
brings Brock to the Fort Wayne Symphony in
Indiana for Handel’s
Messiah.
The tenor has
portrayed Almaviva/
The Barber of Seville
with
Lyric’s “Opera in the Neighborhoods” pro-
gram, with L’Opera Piccola, and for Milwau-
kee’s Florentine Opera student matinees. Brock
recently appeared as Alfredo/
La traviata
with
the Lake Geneva Symphony Orchestra. He has
performed on San Francisco Opera’s mainstage
(
Der Rosenkavalier
) and in a varied concert rep-
ertoire with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
Grant Park Music Festival (where he has also
sung Nanki-Poo/
The Mikado
), Peninsula Music
Festival, and Northwest Indiana Symphony.
SIR ANDREW DAVIS
(
Conductor
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
52 operas since 1987,
most recently
The
Merry Widow
,
Wozzeck
,
Cinderella
(all 2015-16).
Lyric Opera’s internation-
ally renowned music director, who will return to
Lyric’s podium later this season to conduct the
world premiere of
Bel Canto
, is chief conductor
of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, former
music director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera,
and currently conductor laureate of both the
BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra. This season he returns
to the TSO (leading his own orchestration of
Handel’s
Messiah
), the Bergen Philharmonic,
and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic (where
he is emeritus conductor). Sir Andrew’s operatic
successes include recent return engagements at
the Metropolitan Opera (
The Merry Widow,
Hansel and Gretel
), Covent Garden (
Capriccio
),
Glyndebourne (
Billy Budd
), and the BBC Proms
(
The Midsummer Marriage
). He has conducted at
La Scala, the Bayreuth Festival, the Edinburgh
International Festival, and the major houses of
San Francisco, Munich, and Santa Fe. Earlier this
year his extensive performance schedule in Mel-
bourne included several of his specialties, among
them Britten’s
War Requiem
and Berlioz’s
La
damnation de Faust
. Last season he also returned
to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, the
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the BBC
Symphony Orchestra. Sir Andrew has appeared
with virtually every internationally prominent
orchestra, including those of Chicago (where
he returned this season for a Bach/Stravin-
sky/Tchaikovsky program), New York, Berlin,
Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and London. A vast
discography documents Sir Andrew’s artistry,
with recent releases including an all-Strauss disc,
Elgar’s The
Dream of Gerontius
and
The Saga of
King Olaf
, and orchestral works of Berlioz.
KEVIN NEWBURY
(
Director
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Anna Bolena
(2014-15).
The American director’s
production of
Norma
recently premiered in San
Francisco before further
performances in Barcelona and Valladolid.
The current season brings him to Seattle Opera
(
Maria Stuarda
), Portland Opera (
Eugene
Onegin
), Cincinnati Opera (
Fellow Travelers
,
world premiere), and around the country with
the tour of
Kansas City Choir Boy
. Newbury