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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
|
February 8 - March 13, 2016
MARTINA WEBER
(
Director
)
Lyric Opera debut
As a student in Munich
and Vienna, the German
director gained experience
in opera with two cele-
brated German directors,
August Everding and Franz Winter. Before
her graduation Weber was already engaged as
resident director with one of Europe’s most
distinguished companies, Munich’s Bavarian
State Opera. In Munich she supervised numer-
ous new productions by David Pountney
(
Faust
,
Moses and Aron
), Andreas Homoki
(
Arabella
,
Manon Lescaut
,
Romeo and Juliet
,
The King’s Children
), David Alden (
Il ritorno
d’Ulisse in patria
,
Rodelinda
), Jürgen Rose
(
Norma
,
Werther
), and Christof Loy (
Roberto
Devereux
,
Saul
,
Alcina
), among others. As
productions are preserved for many years in
Munich’s repertory system, she was in charge
of those operas’ frequent revivals which often
involved numerous cast changes. Alongside
Andreas Homoki she directed
Pagliacci/From
Today to Tomorrow
(Leoncavallo/Schoenberg)
at Venice’s Teatro La Fenice, and she trans-
ferred Jürgen Rose’s
Werther
production to
the Opéra National de Paris. Weber’s career
highlights include a collaboration with the
renowned theater and opera director Otto
Schenk for the new staging of his Munich
Rosenkavalier
in Geneva. As a guest director
Weber has created productions in Vienna and
at Berlin’s Deutsche Oper. Since her post-
graduate studies in arts management Weber
has worked primarily as artistic production
manager (“Kunst aus der Zeit” at Bregenz
Festival,
Don Giovanni
at Festspielhaus Baden-
Baden, “Rossini in Wildbad” Opera Festival)
while also managing the artistic administration
department at Munich’s Teamtheater.
THIERRY BOSQUET
(
Set and Costume Designer
)
Previously at Lyric Opera
:
Die Fledermaus
(2013-14);
Der Rosenkavalier
(2005-
06).
Among the Belgian de-
signer’s recent productions
is
Ruslan and Lyudmila
at St. Petersburg’s
Mariinsky Theatre. Bosquet’s
Rosenkavalier
production was created for San Francisco Opera,
where his credits since 1990 include
The Merry
Widow
(DVD),
Tosca
(based on the original
1932 design that opened San Francisco’s War
Memorial Opera House),
Capriccio
,
Ruslan
and Lyudmila
(originally designed by Alexander
Golovin and Konstantin Korovin for the 1904
Glinka Centennial and realized by Bosquet),
Don Giovanni
,
Pelléas et Mélisande
, and
Louise
.
Bosquet has created the sets and costumes for
more than 75 operas and ballets at Brussels’s
Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie. He has also
designed the sets and costumes for more than 50
operas, ballets and dramas produced in France,
Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Germany, Canada,
South America, Australia and the United States.
His repertoire has been highly diverse, ranging
from Grétry’s rarely heard
Zémire et Azor
for the
30th Festival delle Nazioni in Città di Castello
(Umbria, Italy) to
The Magic Flute, Werther,
The Mikado
, and
La traviata
for New York City
Opera,
The Merry Widow
at Houston Grand
Opera,
Rigoletto
and
Otello
at the Opéra Royal
de Wallonie in Liège,
La belle Hélène
for the
Canadian Opera Company in Toronto, and
Capriccio
in Washington, D.C.
DUANE SCHULER
(
Lighting Designer
)
Previously at Lyric
Opera:
More than 130
productions since 1977,
most recently
Nabucco
,
Bel Canto
(both 2015-16);
Tosca
(2014-15).
A longtime resident lighting designer for
Lyric Opera, the Wisconsin-born designer has
achieved international acclaim for his theatrical
lighting designs at such prestigious organizations
as the Opéra National de Lyon (
Eugene Onegin
,
Mazeppa
), San Francisco Opera (
Werther
,
The Makropulos Case
), London’s Royal Opera
House (
Fidelio
,
Cendrillon
), and La Scala (
Lulu,
Turandot
). In addition to three Lyric Opera
productions, Schuler’s work will also be seen
this season at Los Angeles Opera
(Norma
),
Canadian Opera Company (
Maometto
Secondo
), and in his Glyndebourne debut
(
Béatrice et Bénédict
). Schuler has designed
more than 20 productions at the Metropolitan
Opera (
Boris Godunov
,
La rondine
,
The Great
Gatsby
,
Otello
). Further opera credits include
the important venues of Salzburg (
Benvenuto
Cellini
,
Elektra
), Amsterdam (
Tannhäuser
,
Die
Bassariden
,
Turandot
), Barcelona (
Parsifal
),
Paris (
La fanciulla del West
), Berlin (
Manon
,
Der
Rosenkavalier
), Dresden (
Dead Man Walking
),
Santa Fe (
Alceste
,
Katya Kabanova
,
The Letter
,
Don Pasquale
), Los Angeles (
Tristan and Isolde
,
Simon Boccanegra
), Seattle (
Don Giovanni
,
Porgy
and Bess
,
The Barber of Seville
), and Japan’s Saito
Kinen Festival (
Falstaff
). In addition to his
successful career in opera, Schuler has designed
lighting for Broadway (
The Importance of Being
Earnest
), New York’s American Ballet Theatre
(
Swan Lake
,
Pillar of Fire
), and numerous
productions in television and film. The designer
is a founding partner of Schuler Shook, a theater
planning and architectural lighting design firm.
MICHAEL BLACK
(
Chorus Master
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Chorus master since 2013-
14; interim chorus master,
2011-12.
Lyric Opera’s chorus
master’s activities last year,
following the company’s 2014-15 season,
included preparing the choruses for
The
Marriage of Figaro
atWestern AustralianOpera,
Britten’s
War Requiem
with the Melbourne
Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Sir
Andrew Davis), and Haydn’s
Harmoniemesse
for his Grant Park Music Festival debut.
Chorus master from to 2001 to 2013 at Opera
Australia, Black prepared the OA chorus
for more than 90 operas and many concert
works. At Opera Australia he progressed
from rehearsal pianist to assistant chorus
master and children’s chorus master, before
his appointment as chorus master. He has
served in that capacity for such distinguished
organizations as the Edinburgh International
Festival, Holland Park Opera (London), and,
in Australia, the Sydney Symphony Orchestra
(including Rachmaninoff’s
The Bells
, led by
Vladimir Ashkenazy), and Philharmonia Choir,
Motet Choir, and Cantillation chamber choir.
As one of Australia’s most prominent vocal
accompanists, Black has regularly performed
for recitals, broadcasts, and recordings (he
has been heard numerous times in Australian
Broadcast Corporation programs). He has also
been a lecturer at the Sydney Conservatorium
of Music, of which he is an alumnus. Black
holds a master’s degree in musicology from the
University of New South Wales.
SARAH HATTEN
(
Wigmaster and Makeup
Designer
)
Previously at Lyric Opera:
Wigmaster and makeup
designer since 2011-12.
Lyric’s wigmaster and
makeup designer has
worked in a wide repertoire at Des Moines
Metro Opera and Michigan Opera Theatre
(both since 2006), as well as Columbus Opera,
Toledo Opera, the Cabrillo Music Festival,
and the University of Cincinnati College-
Conservatory of Music. She has also worked
at the Glimmerglass Festival and the major
opera companies of Los Angeles, Omaha,
Cleveland, Sarasota, and Central City, as well
as Wisconsin’s American Players Theatre and,
in Los Angeles, the Pantages Theatre and the
Geffen Playhouse. Hatten earned a B. A. in
music at Simpson College.