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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
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February 2 - 22, 2019
von Nürnberg
and Leporello/
Don Giovanni
. Among
his other major successes are performances at Seattle
Opera (Scarpia/
Tosca
), London’s English National
Opera (Don Pizarro/
Fidelio
), and Des Moines Metro
Opera (Orest/
Elektra
). Important Metropolitan
Opera credits include
e Gambler
(company debut),
Francesca da Rimini
, and
e Nose
, which he also sang
in Aix-en-Provence. He has premiered roles in many
productions – among them Tortsheiner/Ben Moore’s
Enemies
,
A Love Story
(Palm Beach Opera, world
premiere), Lieutenant Horstmayer/Kevin Puts’s
Silent
Night
(Wexford Opera Festival, European premiere),
and Doctor/Nicholas Maw’s
Sophie’s Choice
(Washington National Opera, American premiere).
His international presence extends from the New
Israeli Opera (title role/
Wozzeck
) and Komische
Oper Berlin (Tomsky/
Pique Dame
) to
eater St.
Gallen and Oper Frankfurt (both as Mandryka
/
Arabella
). Horst is a past winner of the Liederkranz
Competition’s Wagner division, the Metropolitan
Opera National Council Auditions, and the Marian
Anderson Prize for Emerging Classical Artists.
WHITNEY MORRISON
(
Confidante
)
Previously at Lyric:
First Cretan Woman/
Idomeneo
(2018/19);
Gerhilde/
Die Walküre
,
Countess Ceprano/
Rigoletto
(both 2017/18).
e soprano, a Chicago
native and second-year Ryan Opera Center
member, is an alumna of Alabama’s Oakwood
University, the Eastman School of Music,
Germany’s Neil Semer Vocal Institute, and the 2018
Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto. Among her
operatic roles are Donna Anna/
Don Giovanni
(Chicago’s Floating Opera) and Miss Pinkerton/
e Old Maid and the
ief
(Grant Park Music
Festival.) Morrison has appeared in concert with
the Eastman Wind Ensemble and the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra. She also performed the
National Anthem at the 2016 Bank of America
Chicago Marathon. In addition to winning the
Minnesota District Metropolitan Opera National
Council Auditions, Morrison has earned top
prizes in the National
Classical Singer
University
Competition, the R. Nathaniel Dett Club NANM
Scholarship Competition, and the Musicians Club
of Women Competition. She is a two-time recipient
of the UNCF John Lennon Endowed Scholarship
and a former finalist in the Luminarts Classical
Music Competition.
Whitney Morrison is sponsored
by
J. omas Hurvis.
EMILY POGORELC
(Trainbearer)
Previously at Lyric:
Noémie/
Cendrillon
(2018/19).
In 2018 the soprano, a
Milwaukee native and first-
year Ryan Opera Center
member, graduated from the
Curtis Institute of Music; earned the Ginette eano
Prize for Most Promising Talent at the inaugural
Glyndebourne Opera Cup; debuted at Washington
National Opera as Cunegonde/
Candide
; and
participated in the prestigious Mozart Academy at the
Aix-en-Provence Festival. Later this season she returns
to the Madison Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s
Symphony No. 8
. Among other previous successes
are Romilda/
Xerxes
, Berenice/Rossini’s
L’occasione fa
il ladro
, and Johanna/
Sweeney Todd
(Glimmerglass
Festival); Chan Parker/
Charlie Parker’s Yardbird
(New
York’s Apollo
eater); and Musetta/
La bohème
,
Fire/
L’enfant et les sortilèges
, and Lucia/
e Rape of
Lucretia
(all at Curtis). Pogorelc has also appeared
at Carnegie Hall (Berio’s
Sinfonia
) and with the Bel
Canto Chorus of Milwaukee and the New Jersey
Symphony Orchestra. She has received first prize
in numerous competitions, including
e Carolyn
Bailey and Dominick Argento Vocal Competition,
the Hal Leonard Art Song Competition, and the
Classical Singer
Magazine Competition.
Emily Pogorelc
is sponsored by
Sally and Michael Feder, Ms. Gay K.
Stanek,
and
Jennifer L. Stone.
ERIC FERRING
(Young Servant)
Lyric debut
e Iowa-born tenor, a first-
year Ryan Opera Center
member, is an alumnus
of Drake University and
Boston
Conservatory.
As a Resident Artist
at Pittsburgh Opera (2016/17, 2017/18), he
appeared as Spoletta/
Tosca
, Basilio and Curzio/
e
Marriage of Figaro
, Ricky/ Jeremy Howard Beck's
e Long Walk
, Flask/ Jake Heggie's
Moby Dick
,
Nemorino/
L’elisir d’amore
, and
e Protagonist/
Douglas J. Cuomo’s one-man opera
Ashes and Snow
(world premiere, based on Wilhelm Müller’s
Winterreise
poetry). Ferring was a 2017 apprentice
singer at
e Santa Fe Opera, where he received
the Richard Tucker Memorial Award. He has also
been seen at Opera
eatre of Saint Louis, Wolf
Trap Opera, and Seagle Music Colony. In 2017/18
he received a Sara Tucker Study Grant from
e
Richard Tucker Foundation, a Career Grant from e
Sullivan Foundation, and ird Prize in the Gerda
Lissner Foundation International Voice Competition.
In 2015, Opera
eatre of Saint Louis presented
Ferring with a career award from the Richard Gaddes
Fund for Young Artists.
Eric Ferring is sponsored by
Richard O. Ryan, Stepan Company,
and
Cynthia
Vahlkamp and Robert Kenyon.
KENNETH NICHOLS
(Old Servant)
Previously at Lyric:
Chorus member since
2000; ten solo roles since
2002/03, most recently
Old Gypsy /
Il trovatore
(2018/19, 2014/15);
Undertaker/
Porgy and Bess
,
Fourth Servant/
Capriccio
(both 2014/15).
Among the American bass-baritone’s roles in Chicago
have been the King and the Herald/
e Love for ree
Oranges
(Chicago Cultural Center) and Leporello/
Don Giovanni
(DuPage Opera eatre). He was an
ensemble member and sang many performances of
the featured role of Joe in Harold Prince’s production
of
Show Boat
(1993-98) in New York, Toronto,
Chicago, and London. Since 1998 Nichols has made
seven appearances with “Night of 1,000 Voices,” the
annual charity concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
His concert activities have also included “An Evening
of Gershwin” earlier this year with Sarasota’s Artist
Series. Nichols is an alumnus of the Crane School of
Music/ State University of New York at Potsdam.
DONALD RUNNICLES
(Conductor)
Lyric debut
e Scottish conductor is
general music director of
the Deutsche Oper Berlin,
music director of the Grand
Teton Music Festival, and
principal guest conductor
of the Atlanta Symphony
Orchestra. He is also conductor emeritus of the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, having served
as chief conductor from 2009 to 2016. Highlights
of his 2018/19 season include conducting the world
premiere of Detlev Glanert’s opera
Oceane
at the
Deutsche Oper Berlin and guest engagements at the
Tonhalle Orchester, and the Cincinnati, Dallas, and
Toronto symphony orchestras. Maestro Runnicles’s
former posts include music director of San Francisco
Opera (1992 to 2008), principal conductor of the
Orchestra of St. Luke’s (2001 to 2007), and general
music director of the eater Freiburg and Orchestra
(1989 to 1993). His recording of Wagner arias with
Jonas Kaufmann and the Orchestra of the Deutsche
Oper Berlin won the 2013
Gramophone
Award for
Best Vocal Recording, and his recording of Janáček’s
Jenůfa
with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Deutsche
Oper Berlin was nominated for a 2016 Grammy
Award for Best Opera Recording. Born in Edinburgh,
Runnicles was appointed OBE in 2004, and holds
honorary degrees from the University of Edinburgh,
the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,
and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
(See
“How ey Handle
Elektra
,” pp. 30-32.)
SIR DAVID McVICAR
(Original Director)
Previously at Lyric:
Nine productions since
2001/02, most recently
Il trovatore
(2018/19,
2014/15, 2006/07);
Wozzeck
(2015/16);
La clemenza di Tito
(2013/14).
e 2018/19 season includes 16 productions
internationally by the renowned Scottish director,
among them new productions of
Les Troyens
at
the Vienna State Opera,
Adriana Levouvreur
at
the Metropolitan Opera, and
I masnadieri
at La
Scala. McVicar began his association with the Royal
Opera House in 2001. His achievements there have
encompassed ten productions, ranging stylistically
from
e Marriage of Figaro
to
Salome.
e Met
has produced his Donizetti “ ree Queens” trilogy,