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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
February 2 - 22, 2019
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the Bavarian State Opera as Helmwige/
Die Walküre
,
which she has reprised with the Berlin Philharmonic,
LA Opera, the Berlin State Opera, La Scala (DVD), and
the BBC Proms. Among her other successes are Isolde
(Metropolitan Opera, LA Opera, Russia’s Stars of the
White Nights Festival) Sieglinde (Festspiel Baden-
Baden), and Leonore/
Fidelio
(Opera Roanoke). Foster
has collaborated with such distinguished conductors
as Barenboim, Conlon, Gergiev, Rattle, Petrenko, and
Nagano. Among the other companies with which she
has performed are Washington National Opera, Florida
Grand Opera, Vancouver Opera, Pittsburgh Opera,
New York City Opera, and Chautauqua Opera, in
addition to appearances with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra,
Youngstown Symphony Orchestra, and West Virginia
Symphony. She can be heard on CD in the Lyric Opera
Center recording of Hugo Weisgall’s
Six Characters in
Search of an Author.
LAUREN DECKER
(First Maid)
Previously at Lyric:
Five roles since 2016/17,
most recently Inez/
Il trovatore
(2018/19);
Enrichetta/
I puritani
Schwertleite/
Die Walküre
,
(both 2017/18).
e contralto, a third-year member of the Ryan Opera
Center, was featured last season alongside Christine
Goerke and Eric Owens in the Harris
eater’s
“
Beyond the Aria
”
series. She was a national semifinalist
in the 2018 Metropolitan Opera National Council
Auditions, having previously been a two-time recipient
of an Encouragement Award in the MONCA’s Upper
Midwest Region. e Wisconsin native holds a B.F.A.
in vocal performance from the University of Wisconsin-
Milwaukee, and has performed in opera scenes with
Milwaukee’s Kalliope Vocal Arts. She also participated
in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices,
the American Wagner Project (Washington, D.C.) and
the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto (Italy). Decker
portrayed Sally/Samuel Barber’s
A Hand of Bridge
at the
Up North Vocal Institute (Boyne Falls, Michigan) and
has performed in concert with the Apollo Chorus/
Elmhurst Symphony (Verdi
Requiem
), Civic Orchestra
of Chicago, and the Harare International Festival of the
Arts (Zimbabwe). Winner of the 2018 Lola Fletcher
scholarship in voice from the American Opera Society
of Chicago, she returns to the Lyric stage later this
season in
La traviata
.
Lauren Decker is sponsored by an
Anonymous Donor
,
Susan M. Miller,
and
e
ierer
Family Foundation.
MARY PHILLIPS
(Second Maid)
Lyric debut
The American mezzo-
soprano has been widely
heard in Wagner, includ-
ing Brangäne/
Tristan und
Isolde
(Dallas, Winnipeg),
Erda/
Das Reingold
(Scottish
Opera), Fricka/
Das Rheingold
(Pittsburgh Festival
Opera), and in full
Ring
cycles with Canadian Opera
Company, Scottish Opera, and Seattle Opera. With
the Metropolitan Opera she has portrayed both
Rossweisse and Schwertleite/
Die Walküre
, Ježibaba/
Rusalka
, and Mrs. Alexander/Philip Glass’s
Satyagraha
(company premiere). She sings Rossweisse again this
spring with the Met. Her many successes encompass
such varied repertoire Azucena/
Il trovatore
(Seattle,
Phoenix), Eboli/
Don Carlo
(Austin, Sarasota, Toronto,
Vancouver), Herodias/
Salome
(Edmonton), Gertrude/
Hamlet
(Birmingham), Madame Larina/
Eugene Onegin
(Spoleto, USA), Eduige/
Rodelinda
(Dallas), and Sister
Helen Prejean/
Dead Man Walking
(Austin). Phillips’s
facility with contemporary works led to her New York
Philharmonic debut in Michael Torke’s
Four Seasons
and Aaron Jay Kernis’s
Garden of Light
(both world
premieres) and Jake Heggie’s song cycle
e Starry
Night
at Ravinia, Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, and
the Library of Congress. Concert engagements include
Mahler’s
Symphony No. 8
(New York Philharmonic)
and
Symphony No. 2
(Los Angeles Philharmonic,
Atlanta Symphony), and performances with the Boston
Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, and Philharmonia
Baroque.
KRYSTY SWANN
( ird Maid)
Previously at Lyric:
Grimgerde/
Die Walküre
(2017/18); Rebecca
Parker/
Charlie Parker’s
Yardbird
(2016/17).
is season the Philadelphia-
born mezzo-soprano returned
to the Metropolitan Opera for Nico Muhly’s
Marnie
(world premiere),
Die Walküre
, and
Il tabarro
.
Highlights during the 2017/18 season included
Grimgerde/
Die Walküre
(Dallas Symphony Orchestra),
Grandma/Douglas Tappin’s
I Dream
(Opera Carolina
and Toledo Opera), and Irina/Kurt Weill’s
Lost in
the Stars
(Union Avenue Opera in St. Louis). Among
other important achievements have been Amneris/
Aida
(Bucharest National Opera); Maddalena/
Rigoletto
(Atlanta Opera); Rebecca Parker/Daniel Schnyder’s
Charlie Parker’s Yardbird
(Madison Opera); and her
Milan debut with the Laverdi Orchestra. Swann's
New York credits include Lola/
Cavalleria rusticana
(Opera Orchestra of New York), Suzuki/
Madama
Butterfly
(New York City Opera), Emilia/Weill’s
e
Firebrand of Florence
(Alice Tully Hall), the Mozart
Requiem
(Carnegie Hall), and the Verdi
Requiem
(Lincoln Center). She has also appeared with the
major orchestras of Boston, Baltimore, and Rochester.
Swann is a winner of the 2013 Marcello Giordani
International Vocal Competition in Italy and the
Intermezzo Foundation Award (Elardo International
Opera Competition), as well as a two-time winner of
the coveted Richard F. Gold Career Grant.
ALEXANDRA
L
O
BIANCO
(Fourth Maid)
Previously at Lyric:
Helmwige/
Die Walküre
(2017/18).
Recent highlights in the
American soprano’s burgeon-
ing career include acclaimed
performances in four formidable roles: Aida (Seattle
Opera, Opera Colorado), Ariadne (Austin Lyric Opera
debut), Turandot (Des Moines Metro Opera), and
Leonore/
Fidelio
(Vienna State Opera, European debut).
She debuted at Munich’s Bavarian State Opera as
Gerhilde/
Die Walküre
, and has portrayed Helmwige
in that work for a tour of Japan with the Vienna State
Opera. Other major successes include the title role/
La
fanciulla del West
(Des Moines), Amelia/
Un ballo in
maschera
(Miami), Miss Jessel/
e Turn of the Screw
(Dallas), Tosca (Grand Rapids, St. Paul), Donna Anna/
Don Giovanni
(Seattle), and Magda Sorel/
e Consul
(Santa Barbara). LoBianco has performed the complete
role of Brünnhilde with St. Louis’s Union Avenue
Opera, and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera
for its production of
Il trovatore
. Later this season
the soprano brings her portrayal of Tosca to North
Carolina Opera. She will also star as Senta/
e Flying
Dutchman
with Baltimore Concert Opera and will
return to the Madison Symphony Orchestra (where she
was previously heard in Rachmaninoff’s
e Bells
) for
Mahler’s
Symphony No. 8.
ANN TOOMEY
(Fifth Maid)
Previously at Lyric:
Musetta/
La bohème
(2018/19); First Lady/
e Magic Flute
(2016/17).
A Michigan native and
third-year Ryan Opera
Center member, the soprano
appeared last season at the Grant Park Music Festival
as Laetitia/Menotti’s
e Old Maid
and the ief
and
alongside tenor Lawrence Brownlee in the Harris
eater’s “Beyond the Aria” series. Toomey has also
been heard with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
She holds a master’s degree from the University of
Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music (Fiordiligi/
Così fan tutte
, Boonyi/Jack Perla’s new opera
Shalimar
the Clown
– studio production, soprano soloist/ Brahms’s
German Requiem
). She earned her bachelor of music
degree at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan
(Despina/
Cosi fan tutte
, Nella/
Gianni Schicchi
, soprano
soloist/Beethoven’s
Symphony No. 9
and Haydn’s
Lord
Nelson Mass
). Toomey portrayed Gabrielle/
La rondine
at Opera eatre of Saint Louis while participating in
the 2015 Gerdine Young Artist program. She was a
2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions
national semifinalist and an award recipient in the 2015
Corbett Opera Scholarship Competition at UCC-CM.
Ann Toomey is sponsored by
e Susan and Richard P.
Kiphart Family, Richard O. Ryan,
and
Richard W.
Shepro
and Lindsay E. Roberts.
PHILIP HORST
(Orest’s Tutor)
Previously at Lyric:
Pantheus/
Les Troyens
(2016/17); Count
Capulet/
Roméo et Juliette
(2015/16); Gamekeeper/
Rusalka
(2013/14).
e American bass-baritone
returned to San Francisco Opera earlier this season
in one of his Lyric roles, the Gamekeeper/
Rusalka
.
He has previously been featured at San Francisco as
Pantheus/
Les Troyens
, Fritz Kothner/
Die Meistersinger