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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
|
November 1 - 30, 2017
CHRISTINE
GOERKE
(Brünnhilde)
Previously at Lyric:
Cassandre/
Les Troyens
(2016/17); Title role/
Elektra
(2012/13).
The American soprano is
internationally celebrated
for many of opera’s
most formidable roles, including Wagner’s
Brünnhilde (Houston, Toronto, Edinburgh),
Puccini’s Turandot (London, Philadelphia,
New York), and Strauss’s Elektra (London,
Madrid, Houston, Boston, Carnegie Hall),
Dyer’s Wife/
Die Frau ohne Schatten
(New
York), and Ariadne (Santiago, Houston). This
season Goerke returns to the Met, San Francisco
Opera, and Houston Grand Opera as Elektra
and to Covent Garden as Ortrud/
Lohengrin
.
She has appeared on many other major opera
stages worldwide, among them the Deutsche
Oper Berlin, the Opéra National de Paris,
and Madrid’s Teatro Real. Goerke has been
featured on Grammy Award-winning recordings
of Vaughan Williams’s
A Sea Symphony
under
the direction of Robert Spano (Best Classical
Recording and Best Choral Performance) and
Britten’s
War Requiem
, led by her mentor,
Robert Shaw (Best Choral Performance). The
soprano initiated her ascent to prominence
with great successes in
Iphigénie en Tauride
(Glimmerglass Festival, New York City Opera,
CD); in
Don Giovanni
, both Donna Elvira
(Met, Seattle, Paris, Tokyo) and Donna Anna
(Covent Garden, Tokyo); and Elettra/
Idomeneo
and Vitellia/
La clemenza di Tito
(both in Paris).
Her many awards include the Richard Tucker
Award, the Musical American Vocalist of
the Year Award, and the
Opera News
Award.
Christine Goerke is sponsored by the
Lloyd E.
Rigler-Lawerence E. Deutsch Foundation.
ERIC OWENS
(Wotan)
Previously at Lyric:
Five roles since
2007/08, most recently
Wotan/
Das Rheingold
(2016/17); Porgy/
Porgy
and Bess
(2014/15);
Vodník/
Rusalka
(2013/14).
The celebrated bass-baritone’s successes in
formidable Wagner roles include the Dutchman
(Washington) and Alberich (Metropolitan
Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin). Over the
summer he debuted with the New Zealand
Symphony as Méphistophélès/
The Damnation
of Faust
and Orest/
Elektra
(Verbier Festival).
This season he returns to Houston Grand
Opera (Don Basilio/
The Barber of Seville
) and
the Canadian Opera Company (Henry VIII/
Anna Bolena
). Last season, Owens triumphed
at the Metropolitan Opera in two roles,
singing Vodník/
Rusalka
(new production) and
Jaufré/Kaija Saariaho’s
L’amour de loin
(new
production, company premiere), both seen
in HD. Recent career highlights also include
Orest/
Elektra
(Met, new production, HD);
a return to his hometown, Philadelphia, as
Philip II/
Don Carlo
(Opera Philadelphia); and
bass soloist/Bach’s
St. Matthew Passion
(Berlin
Philharmonic). Owens has created numerous
challenging roles in contemporary repertoire,
withworks includingElliotGoldenthal’s
Grendel
(Los Angeles), John Adams’s
A Flowering Tree
(Vienna’s New Crowned Hope Festival, CD)
and
Doctor Atomic
(San Francisco, DVD, CD).
His operatic versatility encompasses
The Magic
Flute
(Paris);
Norma
(Covent Garden);
Rigoletto
and
Il trovatore
(Los Angeles); and
The Rape
of Lucretia
(Glimmerglass Opera). A Houston
Grand Opera Studio alumnus, Owens has
been heard at HGO in six roles. Along with
soprano Ana María Martínez, he serves Lyric as
a Community Ambassador.
ELISABET STRID
(Sieglinde)
Lyric debut
Since 2010 the Swedish
soprano has been a guest
artist at international opera
houses and festivals such
as Dresden’s Semperoper;
the national operas of
Oslo, Helsinki, and Riga; Oper Leipzig, the
Deutsche Oper am Rhein (Düsseldorf-Duisburg),
Gothenburg Opera, Antwerp’s Vlaamse Opera,
Opéra de Lille, and Mexico City’s Bellas Artes;
Stockholm’s Baltic Sea Festival; the festivals of
the Ancient Theatre of Plovdiv, Copenhagen, and
Tampere; and the Wagner Days in Budapest. In
2013 Strid made her U. S. debut at Michigan
OperaTheatre inDetroit, as well as her Bayreuth
Festival debut. The soprano is in demand for
principal Wagner roles, such as Ada/
Die Feen
,
Senta, Elisabeth, Freia, Sieglinde, Brünnhilde/
Götterdämmerung
, and Gutrune. She has also
been heard as Rusalka, Butterfly, Giorgetta/
Il tabarro
, Chrysothemis/
Elektra
, and Nyssia/
Zemlinsky’s
King Kandaules
. This season she
will star as Wagner’s Elisabeth (Oper Leipzig)
and Senta (Budapest’s Müpa concert hall),
while also reprising Sieglinde (Düsseldorf/
Duisburg). As a concert singer Strid has
performed with the Swedish Radio Orchestra,
the OFUNAM-Orchestra in Mexico City,
the Gothenburg and Stuttgart Philharmonic
Orchestras, and the Miscolc and Stockholm
Symphony Orchestras. Recently she made her
successful role debut as Salome (Oper Leipzig).
Her first solo album, "Wagner und Beethoven
"
was released in July 2017.
BRANDON
JOVANOVICH
(Siegmund)
Previously at Lyric:
Six roles since 2009,
most recently Don José/
Carmen
, Aeneas/
Les
Troyens
(both 2016/17);
Walter/
The Passenger
(2014/15).
The American tenor is renowned for his
exceptional stylistic versatility, extending to
Wagner (
Die Walküre
– San Francisco Opera,
Lohengrin
– San Francisco Opera, Zurich Opera
House, Deutsche Oper Berlin,
Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg
– San Francisco Opera, Opéra
National de Paris); Massenet (
Werther
– Opéra
de Lille); Puccini (
Madama Butterfly
– LA
Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Stuttgart State Theater,
Opéra Toulon,
Tosca
– Cologne Opera,
Canadian Opera Company, Seattle Opera);
Strauss (
Ariadne auf Naxos
– Lyric Opera of
Chicago, Bavarian State Opera, Boston Lyric
Opera); and Janáček (
Jenůfa
– Bavarian State
Opera, Angers-Nantes Opera, Katya Kabanova
– Lyric). Among Jovanovich’s performances
this season are the title role/
Parsifal
and
Dick Johnson/
La fanciulla del West
(both in
Zurich), as well as Sergei/
Lady Macbeth of
Mtsensk
(Covent Garden). Jovanovich has been
consistently successful in contemporary opera,
including such leading roles as Hans/Marco
Tutino’s
Senso
(Palermo’s Teatro Massimo,
world premiere), Hoffegut/Walter Braunfels’s
Die Vögel
(LA Opera, DVD), Bocconion/
Richard Rodney Bennett’s
The Mines of Sulphur
(Glimmerglass Opera, CD), Bill/Jonathan
Dove’s
Flight
(Opera Theatre of Saint Louis),
and Levin/David Carlson’s
Anna Karenina
(Florida Grand Opera, world premiere, reprise
in St. Louis, CD). Recent concert appearances
include Wozzeck (Philharmonia Zurich),
Tosca
(Act One with the Boston Symphony
Orchestra at Tanglewood), and Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis
(San Francisco Symphony).
TANJA ARIANE
BAUMGARTNER
(Fricka)
Previously at Lyric:
Fricka/
Das Rheingold
(2016/17).
The
internationally
renowned
German
mezzo-soprano is featured
this season at the major houses of Frankfurt
(
Trovatore
) and Antwerp/Ghent (
Parsifal
). She
made a series of prestigious debuts over the past
three seasons: at Covent Garden and Theater
an der Wien (
Capriccio
), the Bayreuth Festival
(
Ring
), the Edinburgh International Festival
(
Bluebeard’s Castle
), the Deutsche Oper Berlin
and Wiener Staatsoper (
Tristan und Isolde
), the
Hamburg State Opera (Beat Furrer’s
La Bianca
notte
, stage premiere;
Lohengrin
) and Santiago
de Chile (
Jenůfa
). Baumgartner has been a
prominent member of the Frankfurt Opera
since 2013/14, performing standard repertoire
and also unfamiliar fare including
Les Troyens,
Rusalka, The Passenger
, Enescu’s
Oedipe,
Puccini’s
Edgar
, Rolf Riehm’s
Sirens
(world premiere), and
Aribert Reimann’s
Medea
(German premiere,
CD). In Frankfurt she repeated a previous
success achieved at Theater Basel, the title role/
Othmar Schoeck’s
Penthesilea
. Baumgartner
triumphed at the Salzburg Festival as Geschwitz/
Lulu
(debut, 2010) and Charlotte/
Die Soldaten
(2012). She recently added several starring