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L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
6
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September 26 - October 24, 2015
Welcome to Lyric Opera! I’m delighted that you’re joining us for our opening production of 2015-16, and I look forward to seeing
you throughout the season.
I’m sure that after experiencing this performance, you’ll agree with me that Mozart’s
The Marriage of Figaro
is one of the most
sublimely beautiful and gloriously entertaining operas ever written. It deals with all of life in a way that is both deeply touching
and incredibly witty. It has something for everyone, and it’s genuinely profound in its understanding of human nature and human
relationships. It’s also uniquely funny, lively, and accessible, with heartstopping melodies and amazing ensembles.
Typical of
Figaro
is one of my favorite sections of the opera, which occurs
midway in Act Three. It’s a brief duet (less than three minutes) between our two
leading ladies, the Countess and Susanna. During this duet the two soprano voices
intertwine absolutely magically, and the effect is wonderfully touching. Listen for it
during this performance – I’m sure you’ll be enraptured by it, as I am every time I
hear it.
This opera is an evergreen masterpiece that stays with you all your life. I still
remember hearing my first
Figaro
performances more than 40 years ago at both of
the major London opera companies. After producing
Figaro
at both Welsh National
Opera and Houston Grand Opera, it is a special pleasure for me to introduce a
brand-new production here at Lyric.
Directing our production is Barbara Gaines, the distinguished and long-serving
artistic director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater. I got to know Barbara’s work
when I arrived in Chicago four years ago, and have greatly enjoyed many of her
productions. I believe
Figaro
is the perfect opera for her. I love her approach to the
piece; we’re in an 18th-century world, but that world is not entirely naturalistic –
it’s a
fantasy
18th-century world, both funny and frivolous, very physical, and very
sexy! The 18th-century costumes are lavishly beautiful, and wonderfully over the top.
Humor, physicality, and sex appeal are three qualities that Barbara is determined to
draw from our youthful cast (headed by two remarkable couples – Adam Plachetka
and Christiane Karg, Amanda Majeski and Luca Pisaroni). You can expect all our
artists onstage to give spellbinding performances, revealing their characters in depth
in the course of a riveting, hugely entertaining evening.
On the podium I’m delighted to welcome to Lyric for the first time a brilliant young Hungarian conductor, Henrik Nánási,
music director of Berlin’s Komische Oper. He is a great Mozartian, and I know he and Barbara Gaines will work wonderfully
together because they share the same vision for this piece. Henrik’s conducting is energized, sparkling, full of vitality, and those are
qualities that will be typical of Barbara’s production.
I hope you will be as excited by our new
Marriage of Figaro
as we are in presenting it to you. If you’re new to this art form, I can
anticipate that the production will blow away any preconceptions you might have about opera. And if you’re coming to this work
having known it well for your entire operagoing life, you can expect to be as captivated by Lyric’s production as you were when you
saw
Figaro
for the very first time.
Anthony Freud
From the General Director
STEVE LEONARD