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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
24
|
January 28 - February 24, 2017
SONDRA
RADVANOVSKY
(
Norma
)
Previously at Lyric:
Six roles since 2002,
most recently title role/
Anna Bolena
(2014-15);
title role/
Aida
(2011-
12); Amelia/
Un ballo in maschera
(2010-11).
The internationally acclaimed American
soprano’s successes in dramatic-coloratura
repertoire include triumphs as Norma at
many of the world’s most prestigious opera
companies, including the Metropolitan
Opera, San Francisco Opera, Canadian
Opera Company, Bavarian State Opera,
and Gran Teatre del Liceu (DVD). A
great favorite at the Metropolitan Opera,
Radvanovsky made history there last
season by becoming the first singer to
portray all three of Donizetti’s “Tudor
queens” in Met productions: the title
roles/
Anna Bolena
and
Maria Stuarda
and
the role of Elisabetta/
Roberto Devereux
,
the latter a company premiere. She has
also recently starred as Manon Lescaut
(Covent Garden), Aida (Opéra National
de Paris), and Tosca (Bavarian State
Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin). One of
her generation’s most celebrated Verdians,
the soprano will appear this season as
Amelia/
Simon Boccanegra
(Paris, Monte
Carlo) and Amelia/
Un ballo in maschera
(Zurich). She will also return to LA Opera
to portray Tosca. On CD, Radvanovsky
can be heard in Verdi scenes alongside
Dmitri Hvorostovsky and on a solo disc
of Verdi arias. She appears on DVD in
both
Il trovatore
(Met) and as Roxane/
Alfano’s
Cyrano de Bergerac
(Valencia).
Radvanovsky has been heard in recital
in numerous prestigious venues, among
them Ontario’s Koerner Hall, LA Opera,
Mexico City’s Ópera de Bellas Artes, and
the Festival Castell de Peralada.
RUSSELL THOMAS
(
Pollione
)
Lyric debut
The American tenor
reprises his portrayal of
Pollione after scoring
great successes in
the role at Toronto’s Canadian Opera
Company, LA Opera (where he returns
this season as Cavaradossi), Valencia’s
Palau de les Arts, and San Francisco
Opera. Thomas has most recently been
heard as Ismaele/
Nabucco
(Metropolitan
Opera), Florestan/
Fidelio
(Cincinnati
Opera), Don José/
Carmen
(Toronto),
and the title role/Verdi’s
Stiffelio
(role
debut, Frankfurt Opera). He returns
to the Los Angeles Philharmonic later
this season in the formidable role of
Mao/John Adams’s
Nixon in China.
Thomas’s enormously varied repertoire
extends from Mozart’s Tito and Tamino
(both at the Met) to Verdi’s Manrico
(Cincinnati) and Don Carlo (Deutsche
Oper Berlin), Offenbach’s Hoffmann
(Seattle, Toronto), and two other
John Adams roles, Lazarus/
The Gospel
According to the Other Mary
(Strasbourg
Music Festival, English National
Opera, LA Philharmonic, CD) and the
Prince/
A Flowering Tree
(Cincinnati).
Greatly in demand as a concert artist,
he has appeared with major orchestras
worldwide, as well as with the Chamber
Music Society of Lincoln Center and
the Aspen and Mostly Mozart festivals.
The Miami native was 2014-15 Artist in
Residence with the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra. His discography includes
The
Flying Dutchman
(Royal Concertgebouw
Orchestra) and Donizetti’s
Belisario
(BBC
Symphony Orchestra).
ELIZABETH
D
e
SHONG
(
Adalgisa
)
Previously at Lyric:
Twelve roles since
2005-06, most recently
Fenena/
Nabucco
(2015-
16); Hansel/
Hansel and
Gretel
(2012-13); Hermia/
A Midsummer
Night’s Dream
(2010-11).
The American mezzo-soprano, a Ryan
Opera Center alumna now enjoying a
burgeoning international career, will sing
Ruggero/
Alcina
at Washington National
Opera next season. Highlights of 2016-
17 include debuts at both Covent Garden
and Munich’s Bavarian State Opera as
Suzuki/
Madama Butterfly
. Last season
DeShong earned much praise for three
roles in the Metropolitan Opera’s new
Lulu
(HD). Acclaimed in the coloratura-
mezzo repertoire, the Pennsylvania native
has triumphed as Orsini/
Lucrezia Borgia
(London, San Francisco), Cinderella
(Vienna State Opera, Glyndebourne,
Toronto), Rosina (Los Angeles, Detroit),
and Calbo/
Maometto II
(Canadian Opera
Company). She has also excelled in more
modern repertoire, from the Composer/
Ariadne auf Naxos
(2010 Washington
National Opera Artist of the Year
Award) to Hermia/
A Midsummer Night’s
Dream
(Lyric, Met, Glyndebourne, Aix-
en-Provence) and Marta/John Adams’s
The Gospel According to the Other Mary
(Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw). Among
DeShong’s concert appearances with
major orchestras are Mendelssohn’s
Die erste Walpurgisnacht
(Carnegie
Hall, Orchestra of St. Luke’s), Mozart’s
Requiem
(Dallas, Cleveland, Pittsburgh),
Messiah
(Washington, Toronto, CD), and
Bernstein’s
Jeremiah
symphony (Vienna).
She can be seen on DVD as Hermia/
The Enchanted Island
(Met) and in San
Francisco Opera’s
Lucrezia Borgia
.