Così fan tutte

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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 17 - March 16, 2018
JAMES
GAFFIGAN
(Conductor )
Lyric debut
The American conductor’s
operatic successes include
appearances at Glyndebourne (Cosi fan tutte,
La Cenerentola, Falstaff), Den Norske
Opera (La traviata), and the state operas
of Vienna (La bohème, Don Giovanni, The
Marriage of Figaro ), Hamburg (Salome), and
Bavaria (Don Giovanni). Currently chief
conductor of the Luzerner Sinfonieorchester,
Gaffigan is also principal guest conductor of
the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic. He
has earned acclaim for guest engagements
with the London, Dresden, Czech, and
Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestras; the
Vienna Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle,
Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin,
Zurich Tonhalle, City of Birmingham
Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age
of Enlightenment, and Orchestre de Paris;
the Leipzig, Berlin, and Stuttgart Radio
Orchestras; and the leading orchestras of
Philadelphia, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and
Washington, among others. Highlights this
season include his Santa Fe Opera debut
(Ariadne auf Naxos), his return to the Vienna
State Opera (La traviata), and appearances
with many major orchestras worldwide,
including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
A former first-prize winner in the Sir Georg
Solti International Conducting Competition,
Gaffigan was also a conducting fellow at the
Tanglewood Music Center, a participant
in the Aspen Festival’s American Academy
of Conducting, associate conductor of the
San Francisco Symphony, and assistant
conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra.
JOHN COX
(Original Director)
Previously at Lyric:
Four operas since
1994/95, most
recently Capriccio
(2014/15, 1994/95);
Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12, 1998/99);
Così fan tutte (2006/07).
The internationally celebrated director
began his professional career in opera at
Glyndebourne in 1959. The next ten years
he divided among directing plays, opera,
and television before spending a decade as
Glyndebourne’s director of productions. His
own work there included operas of Mozart,
Rossini and Haydn, Stravinsky’s The Rake’s
Progress with David Hockney’s designs,
and six Strauss comedies. Cox is former
general administrator and artistic director
of Scottish Opera (productions included
the first U. K. staging of the complete Lulu)
and former principal stage director at the
Royal Opera ( Guillaume Tell, Capriccio, Il
viaggio a Reims, Eugene Onegin, Die Frau
ohne Schatten). Freelance work includes
houses as large as La Scala and the Met, and
as small as Drottningholm and the Opéra de
Monte Carlo; in places as far apart as Tehran
and Honolulu; in standard repertoire (La
traviata, Salzburg) and in rarities (Pizzetti’s
Murder in the Cathedral, Turin; Barber’s
Vanessa, Strasbourg, Los Angeles). Cox has
enjoyed longstanding relationships with
Monte Carlo, San Francisco, and Sydney,
and most recently with Garsington Opera.
In addition to this season’s Thaïs (Met),
recent productions include a Rake’s Progress
revival (Glyndebourne), Ariadne auf Naxos
and Otello (Houston), Capriccio (Opera
Australia), and Fidelio and The Marriage of
Figaro (both for Garsington). See Director’s
Note, p. 34.
BRUNO RAVELLA
(Revivial Director)
Previously at Lyric:
Ariadne auf Naxos
(2011/12, Associate
Director).
Born in Casablanca of Italian and Polish
parents, the director was educated mainly
in France and is a longtime resident of
London. Last year he made his Italian
directing debut at the Opera di Firenze/
Maggio Musicale Fiorentino (La bohème).
Highlights in 2016 included L’heure espagnole/
Gianni Schicchi (Opéra National de Lorraine),
Macbeth (Iford Arts), and Cavalleria rusticana/
Pagliacci (Hampstead Garden Opera in their
new North London home). Ravella made
his Garsington Opera directing debut with a
critically and publicly acclaimed production
of Strauss’s Intermezzo . He has worked as
revival, associate, or assistant director for
such major companies as the Royal Opera
House/Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, and
the major houses of Sydney, Buenos Aires,
Monte Carlo, Parma, Los Angeles, and
Geneva, among others. Ravella has worked
with many major directors, among them John
Cox, Sir David McVicar, Robert Carsen,
Barrie Kosky, John Copley, and Nicholas
Hytner. Upcoming projects this season
include Werther (Opéra National de Lorraine)
and Falstaff (Garsington Opera).Ravella was
nominated for the prestigious Independent
Opera Director Fellowship in 2015.
ROBERT
PERDZIOLA
(Set and Costume Designer)
Previously at Lyric:
Four productions since
1998/99, most recently
Capriccio (2014/15);
Ariadne auf Naxos (2011/12, 1998/99);
Carmen (2010/11, 2005/06).
In addition to Lyric’s 2006/07 revival, the
American designer’s sets and costumes for
Così fan tutte have previously been seen