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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
February 8 - March 13, 2016
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MATTHEW
D
I
BATTISTA
(
Faninal’s Major Domo
)
Previously at Lyric Opera
:
Servant/
Capriccio
(2014-
15); Third Esquire/
Parsifal
(2013-14).
The American tenor,
a Boston native, will appear as soloist in
Verdi’s
Requiem
with the Wichita Symphony
Orchestra later this season, having previously
performed there in Vaughan Williams’
Serenade to Music
and Beethoven’s
Symphony
No.9.
Highlights last season included Camille
Raquin/Picker’s
Thérèse Raquin
(Long Beach
Opera, Chicago Opera Theater), Curley/
Floyd’s
Of Mice and Men
(Tulsa Opera), and
Britten’s
War Requiem
(Dayton Philharmonic
Orchestra). The tenor is closely associated
with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (
Pagliacci,
Il tabarro, The Ghosts of Versailles
,
The Death
of Klinghoffer
,
Alice in Wonderland
,
Magic
Flute
), and the Glimmerglass Festival (
Central
Park, Falstaff, The Mother of Us All, Of Mice
and Men
). Among his many other successes in
English-language repertoire are Louis/
Angels
in America
(Opera Boston), Steve Hubble/
A
Streetcar Named Desire
(Virginia Opera),
Jasper Vanderbilt/
The Rivals
(Skylight Opera
Theatre, world premiere), title role/
The Good
Soldier Schweik
(Long Beach Opera), and
Eddie Fislinger/
Elmer Gantry
(Tulsa Opera
debut). DiBattista has also been successful in
Italian repertoire, including
Norma
(Boston
Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood),
Tosca
(Denver), and
Pagliacci
(New Orleans). A
particularly challenging assignment – the
four valet tenors in
Les contes d’Hoffmann
–
has brought him acclaim in Miami, Denver,
Boston, and Palm Beach.
MINGJIE LEI
(
The Marschallin’s
Major Domo
)
Lyric Opera debut
A native of Hengyang,
China and a first-year Ryan
Opera Center member,
the tenor will appear later
this season in Lyric’s
Romeo and Juliet
. Lei
holds degrees from the Manhattan School of
Music (Léon/
The Ghosts of Versailles
, Arturo/
Lucia di Lammermoor
, Uriel/
The Creation
)
and Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music
(Nemorino/
L’elisir d’amore
, Don Ramiro/
Cinderella
, Brighella/
Ariadne auf Naxos
,
Sellem/
The Rake’s Progress
, Dorvil/
La scala
di seta
, Gherardo/
Gianni Schicchi
, Almeric/
Iolanta
). Other important credits include
appearances as tenor soloist in Handel’s
Messiah
(with the Cecilia Chorus of New York
at Carnegie Hall) and in Stravinsky’s
Pulcinella
(Music Academy of the West), as well as
Jupiter/
Semele
(Schwabacher Summer Concert
during his tenure with San Francisco Opera’s
Merola Program), Don Ottavio/
Don Giovanni
(Banff Centre Opera), Aeneas/
Dido and Aeneas
(Beijing’s Central Conservatory of Music),
and the Royal Herald and Count Lerma/
Don
Carlo
(Opera Philadelphia). Lei has received
competition awards from the Gerda Lissner
Foundation (most recently second prize),
Opera Index, Inc., Licia Albanese-Puccini
Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, and the
Mario Lanza Institute.
Mingjie Lei is sponsored
by
Maurice J. and Patricia Frank
.
HLENGIWE
MKHWANAZI
(
Noble Orphan
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Barbarina/
The Marriage of
Figaro
(2015-16); Clara/
Porgy and Bess
(2014-15).
A second-year member of
Lyric Opera’s Ryan Opera Center and a native
of KwaZulu-Natal, the South African soprano
debuted in Chicago in the spring of 2014 in
the leading role of Thérèse/
Les mamelles de
Tirésias
with the Civic Orchestra. Mkhwanazi
received both her diploma in opera and her
postgraduate diploma in music performance
from the South African College of Music
at the University of Cape Town. Among
her leading roles in Cape Town have been
Mozart’s Fiordiligi and Konstanze, Offenbach’s
Antonia
(all at Cape Town Opera), and
Madama Cortese/Rossini’s
Il viaggio a Reims,
Donizetti’s Adina, and Stravinsky’s Anne
Trulove
at the Baxter Theatre. In America
Mkhwanazi has been heard as Susanna/
The
Marriage of Figaro
at Brown University. The
soprano’s successes in competitions include
her homeland’s SAMRO International Singing
Scholarship (second prize) and Muzicanto
Singing Competition (first prize), as well as
second overall prize, media jury prize, and
audience prize in Vienna’s 2012 Hans Gabor
Belvedere International Singing Competition
.
Hlengiwe Mkhwanazi is sponsored by
Susan
and Richard Kiphart
and
Drs. Funmi and
Sola Olopade
.
LINDSAY METZGER
(
Noble Orphan
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Peasant Girl/
The Marriage
of Figaro
(2015-16).
A first-year Ryan Opera
Center member and an
Illinois native, the mezzo-
soprano was previously a two-season apprentice
artist at Des Moines Metro Opera and a
studio artist at Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera
(Giannetta/
L’elisir d’amore
). Among Metzger’s
recent portrayals have been Daphne/Marc-
Antoine Charpentier’s
La descente d’Orphée
aux enfers
(Chicago’s Haymarket Opera),
Cherubino/
The Marriage of Figaro
(La Musica
Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy), Nella/
Gianni
Schicchi
(DuPage Opera Theatre), and the title
role/
Ariodante
, Béatrice/
Béatrice et Bénédict
,
and Beppe/
L’amico Fritz
(all at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison). An alumna of the
University of Wisconsin-Madison and DePaul
University, she debuted with the Grant Park
Symphony in Fauré’s
Requiem
. The mezzo-
soprano has been a featured soloist in numerous
Chicago-area venues, including her portrayal
of the title role/Rossini’s
Cinderella
as part
of Lyric Unlimited’s community-engagement
program “Opera in the Neighborhoods.” She
has received the Paul Collins Fellowship from
University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Virginia
Cooper Meier Award from the Musician’s
Club of Women, and an Encouragement
Award from the Metropolitan Opera National
Council District Auditions.
Lindsay Metzger is
sponsored by
an Anonymous Donor.
ANNIE ROSEN
(
Noble Orphan
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Edith Thibault/
Bel Canto
,
Tisbe/
Cinderella
(both
2015-16).
A first-year Ryan Opera
Center member and a
native of New Haven, Connecticut, the mezzo-
soprano 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 Festival and in New
York City as an emerging artist with the New
York Festival of Song. As the 2012 recipient
of the Opera Foundation’s American Berlin
Scholarship, she performed 12 roles at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin (among them Second
Lady/
The Magic Flute
, Mercédès/
Carmen
, Flora
and Annina/
La traviata
, Frantik/
The Cunning
Little Vixen
, Flowermaiden/
Parsifal
, and
Sméraldine/
The Love of Three Oranges
). She
also sang 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 Yale University and Mannes
College graduate, 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.