Carmen

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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
26 | February 11 - March 25, 2017
A second-year Ryan Opera Center member,
the Chinese tenor returned to the program after
spending much of the summer participating
in the Salzburg Festival’s prestigious Young
Singers Project. Lei recently completed a
professional studies certificate at Philadelphia’s
Curtis Institute of Music (Nemorino/L’elisir
d’amore, Don Ramiro/Cinderella, many other
roles) and holds a master’s degree from the
Manhattan School of Music (The Ghosts of
Versailles, Lucia di Lammermoor, Haydn’s
The Creation). He returns to Lyric’s stage
this season for Celebrating Plácido (Gastone/
La traviata). Among other important credits
are appearances as tenor soloist in Handel’s
Messiah (Carnegie Hall), Stravinsky’s
Pulcinella (Music Academy of the West),
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, 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.
TAKAOKI ONISHI
(Moralès)
Previously at Lyric: Four
roles since 2015-16, most
recently First Servant/Don
Quichotte, Trojan Soldier/
Les Troyens (both 2016-
17); Paris/Romeo and Juliet
(2015-16).
A second-year Ryan Opera Center member,
the Japanese baritone will perform roles in
several upcoming Lyric productions, among
them Captain/Eugene Onegin and Marquis/La
traviata (for Celebrating Plácido). Onishi has
received top awards from the Gerda Lissner
International Vocal Competition, the Opera
Index Vocal Competition, the Licia Albanese-
Puccini International Vocal Competition, and
the Giulio Gari Foundation Competition.
For winning the IFAC-Juilliard Prize Singing
Competition in Japan, he received a full
scholarship to attend The Juilliard School,
where he appeared in the title role/Eugene
Onegin, as Count Almaviva/ The Marriage of
Figaro, and in Don Giovanni , Rossini’s La
scala di seta, and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’s
Kommilitonen! (U.S. premiere). In 2014 he
created the leading role of The Man/Marty
Regan’s The Memory Stone (world premiere)
with Houston Grand Opera’s East+West
program. Recent highlights include two
appearances at Carnegie Hall (Carmina
Burana, Vaughan Williams’s Hodie). Onishi
has participated in the Aspen Music Festival
and School, Saito Kinen Festival in Japan,
and Germany’s Internationale Meistersinger
Akademie. Takaoki Onishi is sponsored by
the Renée Fleming Foundation and the
International Foundation for Arts and
Culture.
ALEC CARLSON
(Lillas Pastia)
Previously at Lyric:
Juan/Don Quichotte
(2016-17); Animal Tamer/
Der Rosenkavalier, Ismael/
Bel Canto world premiere
(both 2015-16).
The tenor, a native of Red
Oak, Iowa, is in his second year in the Ryan
Opera Center. He will be seen on the Lyric
stage this season as Giuseppe/La traviata (for
Celebrating Plácido). Carlson is an alumnus of
two of the most highly regarded music programs
in the midwest, Luther College and the
University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory
of Music. His past performances at UCC-CM
include such leading roles as Ferrando/Così fan
tutte and Ernesto/Don Pasquale, as well as the
Royal Herald/Don Carlos (concert performance)
and the tenor solos/Bach’s St. John Passion
(staged production). A 2014 apprentice artist at
The Santa Fe Opera, Carlson has participated
in Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal
Academy and the Wolf Trap Opera young
artist program (Lysander/A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, Prunier/La rondine). The tenor won the
2014 Seybold-Russell Award in the UCC-CM
Opera Competition, and he has also received an
encouragement award from the Metropolitan
Opera National Council District Auditions.
Alec Carlson is sponsored by Stepan Company.
CHICAGO CHILDREN’S CHOIR
Previously at Lyric: Six operas since 2000-
01, most recently Wozzeck (2015-16); Tosca
(2014-15); La bohème (2012-13).
Founded as a single choir in Hyde Park at the
height of the civil rights movement in 1956,
today Chicago Children’s Choir serves 4,400
youth representing all 57 Chicago zip codes. The
CCC encompasses programs in 80 city schools
and ten neighborhoods, an ensemble for young
male voices, and the world-renowned Voice of
Chicago. Under president and artistic director
Josephine Lee, Chicago Children’s Choir has
undertaken many highly successful national and
international tours, has been featured in national
broadcasts, including NBC’s Today, Oprah, and
the PBS series From the Top: Live from Carnegie
Hall, and was featured in the Chicago/Midwest
Emmy-winning documentary Songs on the Road
to Freedom (2008). CCC regularly collaborates
with major Chicago musical organizations. It
has performed throughout the world and for
many dignitaries, from Bill and Hillary Clinton
and Barack and Michelle Obama to Nelson
Mandela and the Dalai Lama. CCC has also
collaborated onstage with such celebrities as
Chance the Rapper, Luciano Pavarotti, Beyoncé
Knowles, Yo-Yo Ma, and Celine Dion, among
many others. Among CCC’s recordings are We
All Live Here (2016), Holiday Harmony (2010),
Songs on the Road to Freedom (2008), Sita Ram
(2006) and Open Up Your Heart (2004).
Dancers
SHANNON ALVIS
Previously at Lyric: Four
productions since 2014-
15, most recently Les
Troyens (2016-17); The
King and I, T he Merry
Widow (both 2015-16).
After nine years performing
withHubbard Street Dance
Chicago, Alvis furthered her career in Europe
with Nederlands Dans Theater. She has toured
internationally and has performed works by
many world renowned choreographers such
as Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin,
Crystal Pite, and Twyla Tharp, among others.
After giving birth to a little baby girl, Alvis
is happy to be sharing her artistry with the
Chicago community once again. She is on
faculty at the Joffrey academy, and is starting
to explore her artistic voice through her own
choreography as well.
JUDSON EMERY
Lyric debut
The dancer, who began
performing as a child in
the Bay Area, attended
summer programs at the
San Francisco Conservatory
of Dance, Juilliard, and
LINES Ballet School.
Throughout his training he worked with such
choreographers as Robert Battle, Alonzo King,
Cindy Salgado, and Jason Parsons. Moving
to Los Angeles, he was seen on The X-Factor,
Dancing with the Stars, MTV VMA’, VH1 Diva's
Live, The Oscars, The Emmys, and The Kennedy
Center Honors. He has assisted choreographers
and teachers internationally and has also
taught classes at Millennium Dance Complex,
Movement Lifestyle, Broadway Dance Center
and Studio 68 in London.
ALEJANDRO
FONSECA
Lyric debut
The Chicago-based dancer,
an Indiana native, appeared
in the West Side Story
national tour. While at
Indiana University, where
he earned a B.S. degree
in dance kinesiology, Fonseca worked with
esteemed choreographers, among them David
Parsons for Nacimento Novo , Larry Keigwin for
Runaway, and Ishan Rustem for the Hubbard
Street 2 piece, Long Story Short. Regionally,
he has performed in a number of musicals,