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L Y R I C O P E R A O F C H I C A G O
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October 1 - 22, 2016
Welcome to Lyric Opera of Chicago! We’re thrilled that you’re here, and we hope you’re as excited about
Das Rheingold
and the rest of the season as we are.
As with every Lyric season, in 2016-17 the individual operas offer something for everyone. The totality of these works
will provide a sense of a journey, exploration, and discovery, as well as reacquaintance with longtime favorites.
We’re very conscious of the fact that many audience members at Lyric will be giving opera a try for the first time. For them,
those favorites will actually be works heard for the first time – some of the most popular and famous operas in the repertoire.
We offer opportunities for our opera “newbies” to discover exactly
why
those operas
are so popular and famous!
Incredible as it may seem, our new production of
Das Rheingold
marks the first
time in Lyric’s history that the company has launched a new season with a work of
Richard Wagner. How fitting that the work produced for this momentous occasion
should be the first opera of the monumental
Ring
cycle. There is no more ambitious,
large-scale, or exciting venture that an opera company can undertake than a new
Ring.
We’re producing the four operas that comprise the cycle in four consecutive
years, culminating with the complete cycle in 2020.
Das Rheingold
is an ideal first opera. It has the running time of a movie, as well
as a fantastic, action-packed story based in myth but with enormous contemporary
resonance (think
Star Wars
or
The Lord of the Rings
). In every scene we can enjoy
some of the most explosive, exciting, climactic music ever written. From the opening
subterranean E-flat chord representing the River Rhine to the gods’ majestic entrance
into Valhalla at the opera’s climax, the cumulative effect of Wagner’s music and
drama is simply overwhelming.
The creators of our new
Ring
are the same team that brought us
The Passenger
two seasons ago. Anyone who saw that unforgettable production will share our
anticipation of an extraordinary theatrical spectacle in this
Ring
, with powerfully
intense storytelling and detailed, passionate performances.
In planning Lyric seasons, a new
Ring
has been a major priority both for me
and for our music director, Sir Andrew Davis. Over the past 15 years at Lyric,
Andrew has brought enormous distinction to his conducting of all the greatest operas
of Wagner. His remarkable affinity for this repertoire has been inspiring for our audiences. The
Ring
he conducted here in 2004-05
ranks as one of Lyric’s greatest achievements in recent decades, and I know that this success will be repeated in
Das Rheingold
and
the other three
Ring
operas.
Heading our cast of top-flight Wagner interpreters is Eric Owens, who appeared at Lyric most recently in
Porgy and Bess
and
has already proven himself a very impressive Alberich in
Ring
cycles at the Met and in Europe. We’re excited to be presenting his first
Wotan, a major milestone in his career. Samuel Youn, our Alberich, is a remarkable Korean bass-baritone whom I’ve much admired
in such portrayals as Wagner’s Dutchman and Berlioz’s Méphistophélès. His engagement at Lyric marks both his American debut
and role debut.
Four other major artists are debuting at Lyric in this production: Tanja Ariane Baumgartner (Fricka), a consummate singing
actress whose career has taken her all over Europe; and three outstanding artists whom I’ve enjoyed onstage numerous times –
Okka von der Damerau (Erda), Wilhelm Schwinghammer (Fasolt), and Tobias Kehrer (Fafner). We’re also very happy to welcome
back Štefan Margita, our Loge, who was a marvelously devious Shuisky in Lyric’s most recent
Boris Godunov.
The
Ring
adventure is beginning. Enjoy!
Anthony Freud
The Women’s Board Endowed Chair
From the General Director
STEVE LEONARD