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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
28
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February 22 - March 19, 2016
JOSEPH CALLEJA
(
Romeo
– Feb. 22-March 8
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Alfredo Germont/
La
traviata
(2013-14, 2007-
08); Rodolfo/
La bohème
(2012-13).
Gramophone
’s 2012 Artist
of the Year, the world-renowned Maltese
tenor will appear later this season at the
Metropolitan Opera (Gabriele Adorno/
Simon
Boccanegra
), Opera Frankfurt (Don José/
Carmen
), and the Chorégies d’Orange festival
(Faust/
Mefistofele
). At the Berlin State Opera
he recently portrayed Puccini’s Rodolfo, a
signature role that has also brought him to
Lyric, the Met, Covent Garden, Munich,
and Bregenz. The tenor debuted in opera
at 19 singing Macduff/
Macbeth
at Malta’s
Astra Theatre. Shortly thereafter he was an
award-winner in the Hans Gabor Belvedere
Competition, which launched his international
career. Since then he has starred in more than
25 leading roles with many major companies,
including the Met (Hoffmann, Duke of
Mantua, Faust), Covent Garden (Gabriele
Adorno/
Simon Boccanegra
, Alfredo/
La traviata
opposite Renée Fleming, both released on
DVD), and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera
(
Rigoletto
). Closely associated with the Vienna
State Opera, he has also won acclaim at the
major houses of Dresden, Zurich, Bologna,
Brussels, Stockholm, and Houston. Numerous
prestigious concert engagements include the
2012 Nobel Peace Prize concert in Stockholm.
A Grammy nominee, Calleja has recorded
five highly praised solo discs, most recently a
program of popular songs entitled “Amore.”
Calleja received the International Opera
Awards’ Readers Award in 2014. The tenor
recently teamed up with Malta’s Bank of
Valletta to form the BOV Joseph Calleja
Foundation, created to help children and
families in need.
ERIC CUTLER
(
Romeo
– March 11-19
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Nadir/
The Pearl Fishers
(2008-09); Ferrando/
Così
fan tutte
(2006-07).
Highlights of the Iowa-
born tenor’s current season
include Apollo/
Daphne
(Hamburg State
Opera) and his first Radames/
Aida
(Opera
Cologne). Celebrated at leading opera houses,
festivals, and orchestras, Cutler has made
an indelible impression worldwide in French
lyric and heroic repertoire, singing the roles
of Iopas/
Les Troyens
(Metropolitan Opera,
Valencia-DVD, Paris), the title role/
Les contes
d’Hoffmann
(Madrid, DVD), Léopold/
La Juive
(Met), Don José/
Carmen
(English National
Opera), Des Grieux/
Manon
(Philharmonie
Luxembourg), Raoul de Nangis/
Les Huguenots
(Brussels), Nicias/
Thaïs
(Edinburgh Festival,
Sir Andrew Davis conducting), and the Fausts
of Berlioz (Antwerp) and Gounod (Athens).
Equally successful in Italian repertoire, the
tenor has portrayed Alfredo/
La traviata
(Munich), Ernesto/
Don Pasquale
(London),
Duke of Mantua/
Rigoletto
(Venice, Houston),
Edgardo/
Lucia di Lammermoor
(Sydney),
Amenophis/
Moïse et Pharaon
(Salzburg),
and Arturo/
I Puritani
(Met opposite Anna
Netrebko, DVD). The 2005 Richard Tucker
Award winner, Cutler is also celebrated for his
Mozart portrayals, especially Belmonte, Don
Ottavio, and Tamino, which he has sung at
numerous prestigious venues, including the
Glyndebourne and Edinburgh festivals. Other
roles encompass Adolar/
Euryanthe
(Frankfurt),
Georg/
Der fliegende Holländer
(Wagner
Geneva Festival), Shepherd/Szymanowski’s
Król Roger
(Paris), the Singer/
Der Rosenkavalier
and Andres/
Wozzeck
(both at the Met, where
the tenor began his career with the company’s
Lindemann Young Artist Development
program). Cutler can be heard on CD in a
solo recital, as well as in
Der fliegende Holländer
and Strauss’s
Die ägyptische Helena
.
SUSANNA PHILLIPS
(
Juliet
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Eight roles since 2005,
most recently Stella
Kowalski/
A Streetcar
Named Desire
(2012-13);
Lucia Ashton/
Lucia di
Lammermoor
(2011-12);
Adina/
The Elixir of Love
(2009-10).
The Alabama-born soprano, a Ryan Opera
Center alumna, has recently returned to the
Metropolitan Opera as Rosalinde and Musetta
(she also sang the latter in the Met’s 2011 Japan
tour). Another major highlight this season is
her first Hanna/
The Merry Widow
at Boston
Lyric Opera. In addition to the Met (other roles
there include Antonia/
Les contes d’Hoffmann
,
Fiordiligi, Donna Anna, and Pamina), the
soprano has earned acclaim in Santa Fe (five
Mozart roles, most recently Arminda/
La
finta giardiniera
last summer), Minneapolis
(Euridice/
Orfeo ed Euridice
, Elmira/
The
Fortunes of King Croesus
), Barcelona (Pamina
– European debut), and Frankfurt (Donna
Anna). She began her stage career in Madison
(Musetta), Louisville (Blanche/
Dialogues of
the Carmelites
), and Birmingham (Violetta).
The soprano has scored great successes with
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Lincoln
Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival (2011 opening
program/live PBS telecast), New York Pops
(Carnegie Hall debut), Marlboro Music
Festival, and in recital at Alice Tully Hall,
Weill Recital Hall, and Washington’s Vocal
Arts DC series. Phillips has also performed with
the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic and the
major orchestras of San Francisco, Philadelphia,
Santa Fe, Santa Barbara, and St. Louis. A
graduate of The Juilliard School, Phillips won
first place in the Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions, Operalia, the MacAllister
Awards, and the George London Foundation
Awards competition (all in 2005). Her first solo
album, a Debussy/Fauré/Messiaen program,
was released in 2011.
CHRISTIAN VANHORN
(
Friar Laurence
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
11 roles since 2004-05,
most recently Alidoro/
Cinderella
(2015-16);
Publio/
La clemenza
di Tito
(2013-14);
Raimondo/
Lucia di
Lammermoor
(2011-12).
A Ryan Opera Center alumnus now immersed
in an exceptionally successful career, the
American bass-baritone will portray Escamillo/
Carmen
(Canadian Opera Company)
and Prefetto/
Linda di Chamounix
(Teatro
dell’Opera di Roma) later this season. Van
Horn appeared last season in six operas at
San Francisco Opera, among them
Norma
,
Cinderella
, and
Les Troyens
. His diverse
repertoire also encompasses the title role/
The
Marriage of Figaro
(heard at Chicago Opera
Theater and Stuttgart Opera, also available on
CD, Teodor Currentzis conducting), Gessler/
Guillaume Tell
(Netherlands Opera), Banco/
Macbeth
(Geneva’s Grand Théâtre), Four
Villains/
Les contes d’Hoffmann
(Munich, San
Francisco), Colline
/La bohème
(Paris’s Théâtre
des Champs-Élysées, Munich, Toronto, San
Francisco, Los Angeles, Santa Fe, Baltimore,
and recently the Met), Zuniga/
Carmen
(Salzburg Festival), and Zaccaria/
Nabucco
(Seattle). Among Van Horn’s major credits in
contemporary opera are Tan Dun’s
Tea
(Santa
Fe), David Carlson’s
Anna Karenina
(Miami
world premiere, St. Louis revival, CD), and
most recently Marco Tutino’s
La Ciociara
(world premiere, San Francisco). Among his
appearances in concert are engagements with
the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.