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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
November 19 - December 7, 2016
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Morning Walks
(Lucerne Festival), Bach
Cantatas 211 and 209 (Whittier Bach
Festival), Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate”
(USC Alumni Orchestra), Lukas Foss’s
Time Cycle
(Aspen Music Festival and
School), Samuel Barber’s
Knoxville: Summer
of 1915
(American Youth Symphony),
Frank Ticheli’s
Songs of Love and Life
and
Angels in the Architecture
(both at University
of Texas at Austin), George Crumb’s
Madrigals Book IV
(Music Academy of
the West), and Francesco Cilluffo’s
The
Land to Life Again
(world premiere, UCLA
Camarades Ensemble). Newman is an
alumna of Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute,
Music Academy of the West, the Fall Island
Vocal Arts Seminar, and the Aspen Opera
Theater Center.
Diana Newman is sponsored
by
Susan Ipsen
and
Mrs. J. W. Van Gorkom.
LINDSAY METZGER
(
Garcias
)
Previously at Lyric:
Alisa/
Lucia di
Lammermoor
(2016-17);
Second Noble Orphan/
Der Rosenkavalier
,
Second Peasant Girl/
The Marriage of Figaro
(both 2015-16).
The Mundelein, Illinois, native, a mezzo-
soprano in her second year with the Ryan
Opera Center, returns to the Lyric stage
later this season as Mercédès/
Carmen
. She
spent two summers as an apprentice artist
with Des Moines Metro Opera, where she
performed in
La rondine
,
Eugene Onegin
,
and
Don Giovanni
. She is also a former
studio artist with Milwaukee’s Florentine
Opera (Giannetta/
L’elisir d’amore
). Among
her recent portrayals are the title role/
La
Cenerentola
(Lyric Unlimited’s community
engagement program “Opera in the
Neighborhoods”), Daphne/Marc-Antoine
Charpentier’s
La descente d’Orphée aux enfers
(Chicago’s Haymarket Opera Company),
Cherubino/
The Marriage of Figaro
(La
Musica Lirica in Novafeltria, Italy), Nella/
Gianni Schicchi
(DuPage Opera Theatre),
the title role/
Ariodante
, Béatrice/
Béatrice et
Bénédict
, and Beppe/
L’amico Fritz
(all at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison). Metzger
debuted with the Grant Park Symphony
singing the soprano solo in Fauré’s
Requiem
.
Among her numerous awards are the
Paul Collins Fellowship from University
of Wisconsin-Madison and the Virginia
Cooper Meier Award from the Musician’s
Club of Women.
Lindsay Metzger is sponsored
by an
Anonymous Donor
.
ALEC CARLSON
(
Juan
)
Previously at Lyric:
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
later 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 in sponsored
by
Stepan Company
.
JONATHAN
JOHNSON
(
Rodriguez
)
Previously at Lyric:
Eight roles since 2014-
15, most recently Hylas/
Les Troyens
, Arturo/
Lucia
di Lammermoor
(both
2016-17);
Innkeeper/
Der Rosenkavalier
(2015-16).
A third-year Ryan Opera Center member
and a native of Macon, Georgia, the tenor
first appeared in Chicago in Poulenc’s
Les mamelles de Tirésias
with the Civic
Orchestra, before debuting at Lyric in
Capriccio
. His upcoming performances in
the current season include
Fenton/
Falstaff
(San Diego Opera) and Frederic/
The Pirates
of Penzance
(Lyric Opera of Kansas City).
He recently debuted at Portland Opera as
Lindoro/
L’Italiana in Algeri
, and with both
the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and the
New York Philharmonic with Grammy-
winning trumpet player Chris Botti. The
tenor graduated from the University of
North Carolina School of the Arts with a
master’s degree and a Professional Artist
Certificate. His leading roles at UNCSA
included Ruggero/
La rondine
, Lechmere/
Owen Wingrave
, Azaël/Debussy’s
L’enfant
prodigue
, and Fenton/
The Merry Wives of
Windsor
. Johnson’s other major performance
credits include the “Beyond the Aria” series
(Chicago’s Harris Theater), Ezekiel Cheever/
The Crucible
(Piedmont Opera), and the title
role/
Candide
and Rev. Horace Adams/
Peter
Grimes
(both at the Aspen Summer Music
Institute).
Jonathan Johnson is sponsored by
Mr. and Mrs. William C. Vance
.
TAKAOKI ONISHI
(
First Servant
)
Previously at Lyric:
Trojan Soldier/
Les
Troyens
(2016-17); Paris/
Romeo and Juliet
, Father
Arguedas/
Bel Canto –
world premiere (both
2015-16).